Venetian Castle of Skaros

Also known as 'Toh Kastro,' 'toh Kastelli,' or 'The Castle,' Skaros was the most important of the five fortified settlements in Santorini. An entire state lived inside it, with 200 houses, cobbled streets, and churches. The rock was inhabited during medieval times, and since it was built as a fortress, it offered protection from pirates. It was built between 1205 and 1230 by the Venetian Giacomo Barozzi, who was granted the island in 1207. It was the capital of Santorini until the 18th century. It is worth noting that the castle was never conquered by Turks or pirates during the period of Venetian domination. However, it suffered serious damage from the 1650 eruption of the undersea volcano of Kolumbo. So today only a few ruins have survived. The castle town’s abandonment began in the early 17th century and was completed in the last decades of the 18th century, when the inhabitants of Skaros and other castles on the island settled in Fira.