Agia Paraskevi

About a hundred metres from the church of Agia Paraskevi, on a hillside three kilometres north of Dafnonas in Chios, stands a medieval tower house of uncertain story. It likely dates from the Genoese occupation of the island, roughly the fifteenth century, give or take a few decades. The fertile, well-watered countryside around Dafnonas is scattered with such tower houses, and their purpose remains unclear: they may have been residences for Genoese or Greek landowners, or perhaps administrative towers tied to Nea Moni, the great monastery that held the area until 1912, in the manner of the Athonite dependencies in Halkidiki. This particular example seems more manor house than monastic outpost, though no record of its history survives. The complex comprises a two-storey central block, a walled enclosure of considerable height, and a roofed gateway; the north side of the building abuts the wall, and a battlement stands by the entrance. Its condition today is not good.