All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Text edited by Rosamie Moore. Write to romapip@quipo.it.
Notes:
Page revised in January 2017.
Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller
- Antiparis (Andiparos)(detail of a 1651 engraving by Marco Boschini)
 (1900 Times Atlas of the World) | Key dates: 1207 Marco Sanudo, a Venetian adventurer, conquered Nasso and the nearby islands including Antiparis 1566 The last Duke of Nasso, Jacopo IV Crispo was cashiered by the Sultan 1645-69 During the War of Candia the Venetians often controlled the Cycladic islands including Paris and Antiparis |
Antiparis (opposed to Paris) is located opposite the southern part of Paris: there is only a very narrow passage between the two islands.
Searching for Kastro
Many tourists try to escape the crowded beaches of Paris by taking the ferry which links the two islands:
when they land on Antiparis they hardly notice the difference because Kastro the main town of Antiparis looks as
crowded and cosmopolitan as those in Paris. Kastro means castle but apparently there is no castle in sight although a cafč at the end of the main street is named in a mixture of Spanish and Italian El (Span.) Castello (Ital.).
An inscription in the pavement (you can see it in the image used as background for this page) is another indication of the existence of the castle together with a long series of adjacent buildings.
Entrance to the fortified town and the main church
After a relatively long walk one reaches a low passage which gives access to a square where a large 1645 church is located. This part of the castle is called Xopyrgo (outside the tower) and is an addition to the original fortified village (because the castle turns out to be a fortified village similar to that of Argentiera).
Gate and structure of the castle
The older part of the castle was built in the XVth century when Antiparos was ruled by Giovanni Loredan and his wife Maria Sommaripa: they both belonged to important Venetian families. They most likely resettled their farmers and servants living on the island in one location which offered some protection, if not from the attack of a proper army, at least from the raids of pirates. This type of countryside village was typical of central and northern Italy where it was called cascina: S. Maria di Galeria near Rome was built following a similar pattern.
Inside the castle: ruins of the keep
A keep at the centre of the village was most likely the residence of the lords of Antiparos: it was damaged by being used as a base for building a water tank.
Details of the houses
All the houses were built on three levels according to a similar pattern: the lower level was most likely used for stables and sheltering farming equipment.
Lintel of the main church and a relief showing the winged lion, symbol of Venice
Introductory page on the Venetian Fortresses in Greece
List of the fortresses
You may refresh your knowledge of the history of Venice in the Levant by reading an abstract from
the History of Venice by Thomas Salmon, published in 1754. The Italian text is accompanied by an English summary.
Other pages/sections which might be of interest to you:
