Ali Pasha Castle is increasingly being explored thanks to a series of restoration projects designed to restore the site to its identity and former glory. With the second phase of the project due to be launched soon, the dwellings of local residents will be restored to their identity too.

The restoration of the castle’s entire space is set to transform the often overlooked historic heritage site into a major tourist attraction and a source of income for individuals, local community and the national mainstream economy. Prime Minister Edi Rama inspected progress of the ongoing restoration work on Ali Pasha castle accompanied by the Mayor of Tepelene, Tërmet Peçi, and the Minister of Interior Bledi Çuçi.  “With the entire infrastructure already rehabilitated, the challenge is to rehabilitate the castle’s interior spaces. The project is ready and it is designed to turn into integrated structures, with their living spaces set to remain intact, but by resorting to interventions that would transform the castle into a fantastic attraction in terms of its infrastructure, traditional elements, as well as its contemporary aspects. This will be a gem that will be transformed into a tourist resort owned by local residents themselves, who will turn their own private family homes into hospitality facilities and small guesthouses,” PM Rama said.

Once the castle’s transforming project completes, the value of real estates and businesses operating in the area will also significantly increase. Walking along the newly-restored streets leading to the castle, the Premier stopped by to initiate a conversation with local residents there.

“I am very pleased with the work done here. We will pass on a very good thing to the future generations,” one of the citizens said.

The project is designed to preserve the castle’s originality and history so that the site is restored to its former glory and historic values and become an important attraction to domestic and international visitors.

“With the infrastructure already built, we plan to remove all these utility poles and power lines and entire new distribution line will go underground. The project’s second phase is ready. These fences and walls will be removed to be replaced with traditional elements. The idea is that none of the homes is demolished but they remain all intact, while a state budget funding will support a project to render these houses a fresh look and uniformity and a feature to the castle’s interior parts,” PM Rama said