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Castles and Legendary Sanctuaries of Western Greece, the Ionian and Corfu

An artillery fortress, opposite the Castle of Roumeli (Antirrio). This complex structure consists of two separate distinct forts built two hundred years apart built on a gravel promontory. The first is the triangular structure with round towers built by Sultan Bayezid II in 1499 to protect the sea passage from the Ionian sea to the gulf of Corinth. This first fortification of the pass is smaller in area and with a double circuit and moat. The straits between Rio and Antirrio, the narrowest passage between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese, was known as the “little Dardanelles”.

The Castle of Morea was attacked by Andrea Doria in 1532 and fell to the Venetians in 1687, but was re-conquered by the Turks in 1715.  Following a siege, the Turks surrendered it to General Maison in 1828 and the castle was subsequently handed to the Greeks.

Drastic repairs were made resulting in the form the castle has today, with new towers-bastions and strengthened ramparts.

The castle was used as a military and then civilian prison between 1831 and 1912, whilst the Germans took over the castle during WWII.

No excavations have been carried out in the area of the Fortress.

Sources:

• https://www.kastra.eu/castleen.php?kastro=rio accessed 29 November 2019
• BROOKS, A., Castles of Northwest Greece, Aetos Press, 2013
• Wikipedia

Gallery

Map

Consolidation-Presentation-Enhancement of the Western Bastion of the Rion Fortress