Castle of Koroni

This is one of the most famous castles in Greece, and deservedly so. It covers 62 acres on a low peninsula in the south of Peloponnesos, close to the beautiful settlement of Koroni. The fortified town of Corone, as the Venetians called it, was of great strategic importance. It controlled the trade routes to and from the East which gave rise to the nickname "the Eyes of Venice". The castle flourished from the 13th to the 17th century and the port played an important role in the development of trade with the East. Over the years, the fortress passed from the Venetians, to the Ottomans (1500-1685), back to the Venetians again, marking the beginning of the Second Venetian Empire (1685-1715). With the second period of Ottoman rule, the castle was once more back in Turkish hands by 1715. In 1770 it was besieged, bombarded and heavily damaged by the Russian fleet, but it was retained by the Ottomans until 1828 when it was handed over to general Maison, head of the French expeditionary force in the Peloponnese shortly after the Battle of Navarino.