Parga Castle

The castle of Parga crowns a hill above the town, watching both the mainland and the sea. Its present form dates from a major Venetian reconstruction at the end of the 16th century, though the story begins earlier. In 1360, Pargians moved their village to the coast to escape Albanian raids, and with Norman help from Corfu built the first fortress. A 1401 treaty brought the Ionian Islands under Venetian rule, and the Pargians served the Venetian fleet well. The Ottomans held the castle briefly in 1452, demolishing part of it, and the pirate Hayreddin Barbarossa burned it in 1537. After further Turkish destruction, the Venetians rebuilt for a third time, creating an impregnable stronghold with eight outer towers, two cisterns, and room for 400 tightly packed houses. Water came from the Kremasma spring, and supplies from the bays of Valtos and Pogonia. The castle later passed to the French in 1797, then to the British, who sold Parga to Ali Pasha in 1817 for £150,000; the exiled Pargians left in 1819 with their ancestors' ashes. Ali Pasha added his harem and bath. Today the entrance bears the Lion of Saint Mark, the name Antonio Bervass 1764, Ali Pasha's emblems, and two-headed eagles. Gun rooms, bastions, barracks, a secret passage to the sea, and a fine view remain.