Vuno

Vuno is a village in Himara municipality, Vlorë County, Albania. It is located along the road between the municipal centre of Himarë and the village of Dhërmi in the Albanian Riviera. It is said that because of the village's situation on the hills, which ascend to about , the village's name derives from the Greek word Vouno (Βουνό), meaning "mountain". In 1628 a school was founded in Vuno by Catholic missionary Neophytos Rodinos. The latter was sent to Himara region in order to convert the local Greek Orthodox element to Catholicism. In 1632 an Albanian-language school was founded in Vuno. In 1720, the villages of Himara, Palasa, Ilias, Vuno, Pilur and Qeparo refused to submit to the Pasha of Delvina. In 1873 a Greek school with 80 pupils was already operating in the village. Greek education was expanded the following years and in the 1898-1899 school season three schools were operating in Vuno: a primary, a secondary (Hellenic) and a girls' school. Education was sponsored by various distinguished personalities and the diaspora members who originated from Vuno, as well as from adjacent settlements. These schools appear to have ceased their operation in 1913. Greek school classes in Vuno were housed in an imposing building, however after the incorporation of the village in the newly established Principality of Albania, Greek education was prohibited by state policies. During the First Balkan War, on 5/18 November 1912, Himara revolted under Spyros Spyromilios and expelled the Ottoman forces. Vuno was captured by the Greek military body of Stylianos Galeros on 6 November 1912 After the Albanian Declaration of Independence in Vlorë, on 28 November, Himarë was constantly attacked by Albanian units without success and the area remained under Greek control until the end of the Balkan Wars. Upon the Greek Army evacuation from Himara, the locals undertook the defense of the region. The Himariotes rebels were joined by volunteers from neighbouring villages and defectors of the army, that set up points on the roads leading to Himara and continued the resistance.