Corfu Old Fortress

The Old Fortress occupies a rocky peninsula with two distinct hills on the eastern flank of Corfu's historic centre, one of a pair of defensive works that were once linked by substantial walls to the New Fortress on the western side. Its origins lie in the sixth century, when the older settlement on the Kanoni peninsula was destroyed by raiders and survivors sought a more defensible position. The peninsula was eventually enclosed entirely by fortifications, though these were built and reworked over many centuries. The Byzantines undertook the first major construction, while the first Venetian period saw the peninsula physically cut off to become an island. The fortress assumed its final shape during the second Venetian period, around the sixteenth century. Today it survives in relatively good condition as a fortress-state, its long military history written into the stone of its walls and bastions.