Occhiali

Occhiali (Giovanni Dionigi Galeni or Giovan Dionigi Galeni, also Uluj Ali, Turkish: Uluç Ali Reis, later Uluç Ali Paşa and finally Kılıç Ali Paşa; 1519 – 21 June 1587) was an Italian farmer, then Ottoman privateer and admiral, who later became beylerbey of the Regency of Algiers, and finally Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pasha) of the Ottoman fleet in the 16th century.

Born Giovanni Dionigi Galeni, he was also known by several other names in the Christian countries of the

Early life

Giovanni Dionigi Galeni was born to the seaman Birno Galeni and his wife Pippa de Cicco, in the village of

In March 1568, the vice-regency of Algiers fell vacant, and upon the recommendation of Piyale Pasha, Sultan Selim II appointed Uluj Ali to become the Pasha and Beylerbey of Algiers, the most powerful of the increasingly autonomous Ottoman eyalets in North Africa, which were governed by the corsair-admirals appointed by the Sultan.^[1] In October 1569 he turned upon the Hafsid Sultan Moulay Ahmad of Tunis, who had been restored to his throne by Spain.^[1] Marching overland with an army of some 5000, he quickly sent Hamid and his forces fleeing and made himself ruler of Tunis. Hamid found refuge in the Spanish fort at La Goulette outside Tunis.^[1]

In July 1570, while ostensibly en route to

Piyale Pasha and Kılıç Ali Pasha immediately began to rebuild the Ottoman fleet. Kılıç Ali Pasha placed special emphasis on the construction of a number of heavier ships modeled upon the Venetian galleasses, heavier artillery for the galleys, and firearms for the soldiers on board.^[1] In June 1572, now Kapudan Pasha, he set out with 250 galleys and a large number of smaller ships to seek revenge for Lepanto.^[1] He found the Christian fleet anchored in an inlet of Morea, but his strategy of trying to lure the enemy out and inflicting damage through repeated quick thrusts meant that a full-fledged battle never materialized because the Christian fleet was too cautious to be trapped and encircled.^[1]

In 1573 Kılıç Ali Pasha commanded the naval campaign on the coasts of Italy.

In 1576 he raided Calabria and in 1578 put down another mutiny of the janissaries in Algiers who had assassinated Arab Ahmed.[1] In 1584 he commanded a naval expedition to Crimea.^[1] In 1585 he put down revolts in Syria and Lebanon with the Ottoman Egyptian fleet based in Alexandria.^[1]

Kılıç Ali Pasha died on 21 June 1587 in Constantinople (Istanbul). He is buried at the Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque (1580), designed by the renowned architect Mimar Sinan.

Legacy

• He built the Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque (1580) and Baths (1583) in Istanbul.
• Several warships and submarines of the
  Kılıç class fast attack missile boat and Oruç Reis-class submarine
  ).
• His statue is in the center square of Le Castella in Calabria, Italy, where he was born.

• 
  Uluç Ali Reis bust at the Mersin Naval Museum.
• 
  janissaries) led by Uluç Ali, then Pasha of Algiers, marching on Tunis

  in 1569.
• 
  Statue of Uluç Ali Reis in his hometown of Le Castella, Italy.

See also

• Ottoman Navy
• Samson Rowlie (Hassan Aga), a captured Englishman who served as a eunuch for Occhiali

References

Sources

• Don Quijote
  de la Mancha, mentions Uluç Ali under the name of "Uchali", describing briefly his rise to the regency of Algiers.
• John B. Wolf, The Barbary Coast: Algeria under the Turks, W.W. Norton, New York/London, 1979,
  ISBN 0-393-01205-0
  .
• Hugh Bicheno, Crescent and Cross: The Battle of Lepanto 1571, Phoenix Paperback, 2004,
  ISBN 1-84212-753-5
• E. Hamilton Currey, Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean, London, 1910
• Bono, Salvatore: Corsari nel Mediterraneo (Corsairs in the Mediterranean), Oscar Storia Mondadori. Perugia, 1993.
• Corsari nel Mediterraneo: Condottieri di ventura. Online database in Italian, based on Salvatore Bono's book.
• Bradford, Ernle, The Sultan's Admiral: The life of Barbarossa, London, 1968.
• The Ottomans: Comprehensive and detailed online chronology of Ottoman history in English.
• Turkish Navy official website: Historic heritage of the Turkish Navy (in Turkish)

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