Castle of Akrotiri

The Castle of Akrotiri, raised around 1335, was known in medieval Italian as ‘Punta Castelli’ or ‘La Ponta’, both meaning ‘the peak’. It began as a Venetian outpost, and Nikolas Sanudos, Duke of Naxos, presented it to the Gozadini family. That dynasty held its towers, or goulas, until 1617, a remarkable persistence given that the Turks had already overrun the rest of the island. The settlement’s central tower survived in good shape until the earthquake of 1956, which left it damaged. A second goulas stands a little away from the village core. Today the main tower is privately owned, and between 2012 and 2017 it hosted an exhibition of musical instruments, though that display has since closed. The site remains an island citadel in average condition, its Venetian lineage still legible in stone and name.