Goulas - Emporio

The Goulas, or Pyrgos, stands near the traditional settlement of Kastelli in Emporio, Santorini’s largest village, some twelve kilometres from Fira. This tower house dates from the fifteenth or sixteenth century and likely served both to store agricultural produce and to shelter villagers. It belonged to the Darzendas family until, after the piracy era faded in the seventeenth century, it was sold and became a dependency of the Monastery of Agios Ioannis Theologos on Patmos, whereupon monks took residence.

The structure rose with crenellations crowning its roof, much like the towers of Naxos. Its ground floor held two underground cisterns, while upper storeys featured cylindrical domed ceilings linked by internal stone stairs. Auxiliary spaces included a kitchen, warehouses and a small chapel on the top floor. Built in at least six phases, its final major alteration, likely mid-seventeenth century, added sloping external mantle walls, or scarpas, over the original vertical ones, creating a pyramidal impression. These oversized scarpas echo similar reinforcements at Patmos-linked buildings, including the monastery itself.