Ios Palaiokastro

Paleokastro occupies a hill on the east coast of Ios, commanding a wide sweep of the Aegean towards Paros, Naxos and Amorgos. It was raised in 1397 by Marco Crispo, a son of Francesco Crispo, the man who had seized control of the Duchy of Naxos in 1361. The fortification was intended to shield the island from pirates, chiefly Turkish raiders, and it was set upon the foundations of an earlier Byzantine castle. Today its condition is rather poor, and it survives as a coastal fortress in a state of considerable decay. What remains is enough to suggest the outline of the original defensive scheme, though little of the fabric stands to any height. The position, however, retains its purpose as a lookout, and the view across the neighbouring Cycladic islands remains as expansive as it must have been when the Crispo family first chose the site.

Heritage data from Wikidata, compiled and verified in the Atika atlas.