He and 300 other Albanians who fought in the Battle of Niš deserted the Ottoman Army and made their way to Krujë, which quickly fell due to subversion.

The Albanians confronted Ali Pasha on his way to Krujë, and on 29 June 1444, Skanderbeg's forces split into three groups and pretended to retreat, drawing the Ottomans into the gorge of Torvioll as they dispersed in the surrounding mountains.

[6] Hungarian captain John Hunyadi's continued operations against Sultan Murad II gave Skanderbeg time to prepare an alliance of the Albanian nobles.

Alessio was chosen as the meeting point because the town had once been the capital of the Dukagjini family and to induce Venice to lend aid to the Albanian movement.

[9] Skanderbeg's Albanian resistance movement began directly after the Hungarian Crusade of 1443-1444, and so the Ottoman sultan Murad II sought to end it immediately.

Ali Pasha, one of Murad's most favoured commanders, left Üsküp (Skopje) in June 1444 with an army of 25,000–40,000 troops, entering Albanian territory by following the flow of the Drin from the north to the south, and headed for the region of Krujë.

[17] On the morning of 29 June,[5] Skanderbeg's army was divided into three parts and proceeded to feign a retreat, whilst 3,000 cavalrymen were hidden in a forest behind Ottoman forces under the command of Hamza Kastrioti.

[3][4][5][2] Skanderbeg's victory was praised through the rest of Europe, and the Battle of Torvioll opened up the almost 40 years of war between the League of Lezhë and the Ottoman Empire.