All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it.
Notes:
Page revised in February 2021.
Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller
- Vonizza (Vonitsa)(detail of a 1651 engraving by Marco Boschini)
 (1900 Times Atlas of the World) | Key dates: 1204 After the fall of Constantinople, Vonizza becomes part of the Byzantine Despotate of Epirus 1472 The Ottomans conquer Vonizza 1684 The Venetians conquer Vonizza 1715-16 Second Ottoman occupation 1798 After the fall of the Republic of Venice, the fortress becomes a possession of Ali Pacha of Tepeleni |
Vonizza, is located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Arta (or Avramkikos Gulf), some ten miles to the east of Preveza. Because of its commanding view over the Gulf of Arta and over a small natural harbour, the hill of Vonizza was fortified by the Byzantines and after them by the Ottomans and the Venetians.
View of Vonizza from the east
19th June,
1805. From hence to Vonitza the land is well cultivated
with corn. Leaving on our right a monastery,
beautifully situated below a grove of oaks on the
side of the mountain, we descend into the plain,
and crossing it diagonally, arrive at Vonitza at
12.10. (..) The district of Vonitza extends 4 or 5 miles
round the town. (..) The advantages of Vonitza are its fine bay for
ships, its harbour at Myrtari for small vessels, its
forests abounding in excellent timber and pasture
for cattle; a fertile valley, an easy communication
with Lefkadha, and a fortress in a position which
commands the access into Acarnania and Etolia
from Epirus by the way of Prevyza.
William Martin Leake - Travels in northern Greece - 1835
Today Vonizza is a sought after location by holiday makers who enjoy sailing and in particular by those who are in the learning process, as the shallow waters of the Gulf of Arta are usually very calm (... although, according to a popular saying, calm seas never make skilful sailors).
Eastern side of the fortress
The house in which I am lodged at Vonitza, that
of the Greek primate Khalikiopulo, commonly
called Logotheti, from his ecclesiastical office,
stands on the shore, on the side of a strait about
200 yards in width, which communicates from the
Bay of Vonitza to the Limeni, a shallow harbour
which widens to half a mile, and is about two
miles long. Leake
The hill chosen for the construction of the fortress had a cliff on its western side, but on the eastern one it gently sloped towards the sea. For this reason this side was protected by three curtains of walls.
(left) Entrance to the fortress; (right) inner walls
The castle has a double inclosure, a ruined church on the summit, a good
cistern, and a house built by Aly Pasha for the
Albanian garrison, which he placed here after he
had taken Vonitza from the French, and when he
probably expected to have been left in quiet possession of it by the Porte. It is armed only with three
small cannon on the southern side. Leake
The entrance to the fortress is hidden behind a tower and
this is typical of medieval warfare, when attacks were conducted by using battering-rams: a lateral gate increased the exposure of the assailants.
The inner circle of walls was strengthened by round towers. There is little space between the outer and the inner walls and the latter are on higher ground; in this way assailants who had succeeded in breaching the former were impeded in
continuing their attack.
The keep
The commerce of this place
consists chiefly in the exchange of grain, cattle,
and firewood. (..) As to government, it is in
the same condition with Prevyza and Parga. The
treaty of 1800, which formed the Septinsular Republic, assigned these Venetian dependencies to
the Porte, on the condition that they were to be
governed by their own municipal laws, and to be
exempt from the kharatj, but to pay the land tax
and customs to an officer appointed by the Porte to
receive them. The Aga charged with this office
has a guard of five or six men. (..) He is in great
dread of offending Aly Pasha, whose design of
obtaining complete possession of the Ex-Venetian
places is sufficiently evident. Leake
The last defence was entrusted with a stronghold where the residence of the commander and other key buildings were located. The square tower shown in the photo was most likely built by the Venetians.
(left) The commander's residence; (right) view towards the eastern part of the Gulf of Arta
I have searched in vain for
any vestiges of antiquity in the Castle of Vonitza,
or on any part of the hill, though the situation
could hardly have been neglected by the ancients.
In fact, ancient sepulchres are often found in the
suburb of Boccale, and fragments in other places,
sufficient to show that it was an ancient site. Leake
It is unlikely that many Venetians wished to become the commander of Vonizza. The fortress was the most advanced possession of the Republic on the Greek mainland, but because of its position inside the Gulf of Arta, ships did not call at Vonizza and life at the fortress was very monotonous.
View of the western part of the Gulf of Arta
This morning he accompanied me to the
castle which commands a fine view of the western
part of the Ambracic Gulf, bounded by the hills of
Suli and Ioannina. (..) The Bay of Vonitza is a
very large semi-circular basin, opening into the
gulf. (..) It is indented with several beautiful harbours, and has considerable depth quite to the
shore of Vonitza. Leake
As usual the view from a fortress is very rewarding of the effort made to climb to its top. The closed waters of the Gulf of Arta give
the impression of being part of a lake, rather than of a sea.
(left) The main church of Vonizza; (right) reliefs on its old portals
Vonitza contains 450 houses, divided into three
separate quarters : namely, Recinto, which lies on
the south-west, and is so called as being inclosed
within two walls which descend to the shore of
the shallow harbour from the summit of a conical
hill, crowned with a Venetian castle; secondly, Borgo, which is a suburb on the western side of the hill; and
thirdly, Boccale, which is divided from Borgo by
gardens, and stretches eastward along the shore
of the Bay. In Recinto are the ruins of a large
church, having a Latin inscription over the door,
placed there by the Venetians. The land of Vonitza belongs chiefly to nobles of
Zante, Cefalonia, and Corfu, who became possessed
of it under the Venetian government, and whose
cultivators send the proprietors a fourth of the produce, being themselves subject to all the expences,
including the land tax paid to the Porte. Leake
The fortress, which was used by the Greek army until a few years ago, does not have any winged lion of the Venetian period, but the church at the
foot of the fortress has some small reliefs showing this symbol of Venice. The church was modified in modern times, but its ceiling retains a fine painting of the Venetian school.
Painting inside the church, a detail of which can be seen in the image used as background for this page
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:
