The largest of Albania's islands, it is a designated military exclusion zone; it lies in a strategically important location between the Strait of Otranto and the mouth of the Bay of Vlorë, marking the border between the Adriatic and Ionian seas.

After the end of the Second Balkan War in 1913, Italy and Austria-Hungary pressed Greece to evacuate all of Northern Epirus, including the island.

After World War I, Albania formally ceded the island to Italy on 2 September 1920 as part of the Albano-Italian protocol.

In those years the Italian authorities built a lighthouse and some naval fortifications, and populated the island with a few families of fishermen relocated from Apulia.

[10] The island was united to the Italian Governatorate of Dalmatia in 1941 during World War II and ceded to Albania on 10 February 1947, under the postwar peace treaty with Italy.

The island now is uninhabited but there is a small Italo-Albanian naval base, used mainly to counter contraband between southern Italy and Albania and as a training field for the British Royal Navy.

[12][11] In 2010, the island's surrounding sea waters, and those of adjacent Karaburun Peninsula were proclaimed a National Marine Park by the Albanian government.

[1] Sazan has a coastline of about 15 km (9.3 mi) characterized by sandy beaches, capes, rocky cliffs and underwater fauna.

Due to the combination of southern geographic latitude and high altitude and as well the variation of climate, geological and hydrological conditions have contributed to the formation of a unique flora inside the island.

[15] The varied relief creates various ecological environments for plants, further diversified by the dominant rock types which form siliceous and calcareous terrain on the territory of the park.

The rocky shores and limestone sea cliffs on the southern corners of Sazan are home to numerous halophile species such as lotus cytisoides and limonium anfractum.

[15] Due to its specific topographic, climatic, hydrological, and geological conditions, the island is characterized by housing a unique vegetation and biodiversity.