The castle of Parga

The castle of Parga, is located on the fortified hillside, that stands above the entrance of the port of Parga and the enormous beach of Valtos.



History

The castle was destroyed and rebuilt several times throughout history, from every conqueror that occupied it. Today we can see the fortress built by the Venetians in the 16th century, with the additions made by Ali Pasha when he bought Parga from the English. The castle of Parga was impregnable throughout the conflict with Ali Pasha and offered great relief to the people of Souli (Souliotes) who were fighting him.

The castle was first built in the late 14th century, essentially by the Normans. In 1401 the Venetians became the rulers of Parga.

In 1452, Parga temporarily fell into the hands of the Turks who destroyed most of the castle. After two years the Venetians returned. The castle was destroyed again in 1537 by the Turkish pirate Hayreddin Barbarossa.

The Venetians rebuilt the castle and gave it its definitive form in 1572. This time they built 8 towers around it. Inside the castle, 400 houses were stacked for the inhabitants, which in the absence of space had only one room.

From the port of Parga the inhabitants were supplied with food and ammunition for their struggle against the tyrant. The castle of Parga was their escape place whenever they were temporarily forced to leave Souli. It was Parga where they fled, after the fall of Souli and from there they were uprooted, along with the rest of the people of Parga, when the English commander of the Ionian Islands, Maitland, sold Parga to Ali Pasha.

Previously, Parga had been in the possession of the French since 1797. With the end of the Napoleonic wars, the Pargans revolted and sought the protection of the British, from which, a few years later, they were betrayed, as they handed over the city to the Turks.

Ali Pasha made the last major additions to the castle. The most characteristic of the additions, was the construction of a Turkish bath.