King Zog

The reference point commemorates Ahmet Zogu, president of Albania from 1925 to 1928 and then King Zog I until 1939. Born into a northern clan-leader family, he ruled autocratically, modernized the legal system on an Italian model and slid into dependency on Mussolini. The Italian invasion of 1939 drove him into exile; he never returned and died in France in 1961. His name still attaches to several Tirana landmarks - from the restored Royal Palace to the major Bulevardi Zogu I.