The channel of Otranto is a Détroit of the Mediterranean, which connects the Adriatic Sea to north with the Ionian Mer in the south. It separates the coasts from the south-east of the Italian peninsula and the south-west of the Albania.

The channel draws its name from the Italian small town of Otranto, in the area of the Pouilles. The course of Otranto, located at 18 ° 31 of longitude East is the Eastern point of Italy and nearest to Albania, located at 72 km only.

The channel of Otranto is a place of crossing used by Albanian frontier runners to convey clandestine immigrants in Italy on board fast inflatable dinghies. This lucrative traffic for the frontier runners gave place to many dramas these last years. In particular on December 30th, 1999, the upsetting of a boat made 60 dead and on May 4th, 2000 a collision with an Italian police launch made 13 victims. Within the framework of an agreement with Albania going back to 1998, Italy established a radar tracking station on the island of Sasena, vis-a-vis the Albanian port of Valona for better controlling the mouvenents these very fast boats.