All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it.
Notes:
Page revised in May 2021.
Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller
- Cerigo (Kythira) - page two(detail of a 1651 engraving by Marco Boschini)
You may wish to see page one first.
S. Nicolò de Modari - Kato Hora (Lower Town)
(September 1809) We pass in the evening through
the passage between Elafonisi and Cape Mudhari of Cerigo.
William Martin Leake - Travels in northern Greece - 1835
1567 gate
The population of Cerigo (Kythira) substantially decreased between 1870 and 1920: the last census (1864) of the British administration recorded 14,500 inhabitants: a 1911 assessment estimated a population in the region of 6,000; according to the 2001 census the residents are only 3,300. This explains why many parts of the island are no longer farmed; the second town of Cerigo was abandoned; it was located on the western coast of the island: the Venetians referred to it as S. Nicolò de Modari, but the locals called it Kato Hora, the Lower Town (Pano Hora being the main one). The only access to the town was guarded by the Lion of St. Mark: the gate retains the coats of arms of the two Venetian governors of the island who promoted its construction in 1567.
(left to right) View towards the Mani peninsula; a bell tower; fresco portraying St. George in Ayios Ioannis Chrysostomos
The Venetians often named S. Nicolò the landing sites or harbours of their possessions in the Levant, because the Bishop of Myra was the patron of seamen and a church was dedicated to him (see also S. Nicolò on Tino). S. Nicolò de Modari was built on a terrace between two ravines and it was located at a distance from the bay where ships moored; today it is a ghost town, although several small churches are taken care of, similar to what occurs on Egina.
S. Nicolo (Avlemonas)
The inner section of the harbour
Our Vessel parted hence before the rest, to take in fresh water at Port Saint Nicolo, which lieth on the East-side of this Island. It is undoubtedly that, for which Strabo saith, The Island hath a good Harbour; there being, beside the Harbour for great Vessels, a natural Creek in the Rocks, large enough for Forty Gallies; which may easily be tied together, and secured from without with a Chain. Near the Shore here digging, you have very good Water: which is indeed from a little Rivolet, that in the heat of Summer seems perfectly dry in the Channel; but still preserves it self some three foot under the ground.
A journey into Greece by George Wheler, Esq., in company of Dr. Spon of Lyons - 1682
The most fruitful parts are the
plains of Mylopotamo and Livadhi; the latter,
which I formerly crossed on my way from Avlemona to the town, consists of vineyards and corn
fields, interspersed with olive and other fruit
trees, as well as with villages, single houses, and
labourers' huts. Leake
(above) View of the bay of Avlemonas and of Cerigotto (Antikythira): (below) Cerigotto: behind it one can detect Grambusa and the mountains of Candia (Crete)
We found ancient Ruins near this place; which we took to be the Ruins of Menelaus his City, in old time King of this Isle. (..) They now call the place Paleo-Castro, or Old Castle. Wheler
At Paleopoli, about three miles inland from the
port of Avlemona, are the ruined walls of an ancient
town; (..) it seems evidently
to have been the upper Cythera intended by Thucydides, in which case it cannot but follow that Avlemona was the site of the maritime Cythera. (..) The island to the south-east of Cerigo, called Cerigotto by the Italians, is named Litis by the
Greeks of Cerigo and the Morea, and by the Sfakhiotes of Crete Seghilio. The island is a nominal
dependence of Cerigo, and consequently belongs to the Septinsular state; but there being no garrison, it is in fact in the hands of the Sfakhiotes. Leake
The main port of Cerigo in antiquity and during the Byzantine rule was located on its eastern coast in a position which allowed control
of the strait between the island and Cerigotto and Crete. In 1538 Hayruddin Barbarossa, an Ottoman corsair,
razed it to the ground and the Venetians chose to rebuild it in a more protected location.
The small fort protecting the access to the bay
The bay of the old town was the best anchorage of the island and therefore the Venetians built a small octagonal fort to protect a small section of it which was almost a natural dockyard.
(left) Inside the fortress; (right) evidence of winged lions on the walls and on a gun
Many of the Venetian guns are still inside the fort: worn out winged lions can be seen on some of them and on the walls of the fort.
Time for a lunch
The image used as background for this page shows the Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence.
Return to page one.
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:
