It was once an important residence of Ali Pashë Tepelena, a local ethnic Albanian and powerful Ottoman ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina.

[1][2] The city of Tepelena (Ottoman: Tepedelen) is first mentioned in 1482, during a one month long visit of Sultan Bayezid II.

The tax register of 1520 mentions the settlement having 27 Christians and 3 Muslim households and the castle having a garrison of 183 soldiers.

[1][2] In 1670 Evliya Çelebi describes the 40 houses of Tepelena in a rather desolate condition and also mentions that the settlement had no khan, no hammam, no medrese or mekteb.

According to Evliya Çelebi who describes the circumference of the castle as being 600 steps long, mentions a garnison of around 100 men in 1670.

It was here that Lord Byron met Ali Pasha in 1809 and made him famous in Western Europe through his poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.

Not much of the historic buildings of Tepelena in and outside of the castle have survived as the town suffered from severe damage from a massive earthquake and plundering Greek irregulars in the early 20th century, and saw enormous desctruction in both world wars.