Thereupon, the Ottoman navy targeted not the Republic of Venice with which peace was made during the 1573 campaign season, but the Kingdom of Naples lands that were part of the Spanish Empire.
Piali Pasha, who carried out the naval preparations together with Occhiali and was re-appointed as the navy commander, set sail for the Mediterranean on June 3, 1573.
[1] 220 pieces (208 galley and 12 barges),[2] After reaching Avlonia, the Ottoman navy crossed the Strait of Otranto and landed on the Apulia shores of the Kingdom of Naples and captured Kastro castle[3] (the same castle had been captured in 1537 during Lütfi Pasha's Pulya expedition).
After loading many prisoners and booty captured during the plunder of the region onto ships, the Ottoman navy advanced to the Messina Strait, but due to adverse weather conditions, they gave up going to the Naples and Sicily coasts.
With this expedition, the Ottoman navy showed that it had left behind the negative effects of the Lepanto defeat of two years earlier.