Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër, a city in southern Albania (then under the Ottoman Empire) that has been home to many prominent families. He was the son of Halil Hoxha, a Bektashi Tosk cloth merchant who traveled widely across Europe and the United States and Gjylihan (Gjylo) Hoxha. He was raised a member of a wealthy Muslim family of landowners and merchants. He went to the best schools in Albania in the 1920s. He was given one of the few scholarships to a foreign college. In 1931 he attended the University of Montpellier in France. He lost his scholarship in 1934 for poor performance and moved to Paris.