| Durrës (Italian Durazzo), city and seaport in western Albania, capital of Durrës District, on the Adriatic Sea near Tirana. The city is in a fertile region in which corn, grain, sugar beets, and tobacco are grown and livestock is raised. An important commercial and communications center serving central Albania, the city has a power plant, a dockyard, and factories producing bricks, cigarettes, leather products, and soap. Exports include grain, hides, minerals, and tobacco. The city is linked by rail with Tirana and Elbasan. Durrës is the seat of a Greek Orthodox metropolitan and, since the 5th century, of a Roman Catholic archbishop. Remains of Byzantine and Venetian fortifications are outside the city. |