Palamidi
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Interesting facts
- The climb from the old town is famed as 999 steps, but the staircase actually has 857.
- The Venetians won the hill only in 1687 after a fierce battle with the Ottomans, and the fortress itself went up in roughly three years, 1711 to 1714.
- Its designer, Antonio Giancix, also known by the Croatian name Antun Janฤiฤ, was an officer of Venice's oltramarini troops from the eastern Adriatic.
- When the Ottomans retook Palamidi in 1715, they got in after blowing up part of the brand-new fortifications.
- The Greek assault of 30 November 1822 was carried out by around 300 men, with the revolutionary leader Staikos Staikopoulos among them.
- Theodoros Kolokotronis spent about eleven months imprisoned in the fortress in 1833 before King Otto pardoned him.
- One bastion honours the French philhellene Robert, who was killed fighting on the Acropolis of Athens during the Greek War of Independence.
- The hills of Palamidi and the neighbouring Acronauplia form a Natura 2000 protected area of about 3.7 square kilometres of scrub, cliffs and pine woods.
- Protected wildlife on the fortress hill includes the Peloponnese wall lizard, found only in southern Greece, and the endemic Corinthian wallflower.
Why it is worth it
Palamidi crowns a 216-metre hill above Nafplio, and it is a textbook baroque fortress. The Venetians, who held the Peloponnese for a second time between 1686 and 1715, built it in a remarkably short burst of work completed in 1714, to plans by the engineer Antonio Giancix and with the French military engineer Pierre de la Salle in charge of construction. Its bastions are strung out along the crest of the hill.
The Venetians barely had time to use it. In 1715 the Ottomans took the fortress, and they held it until the Greek War of Independence, when Greek fighters captured it on 30 November 1822 during the siege of Nafplio. The bastions, first named after Venetian governors and then given Turkish names, were renamed once more after heroes of ancient Greece: Epaminondas, Miltiades, Leonidas, Phocion, Achilles and Themistocles, with two more dedicated to Saint Andrew and to a French philhellene.
After independence Palamidi became a prison. Its most famous inmate was Theodoros Kolokotronis, a hero of the Greek Revolution, who was held here in 1833 before being pardoned by King Otto. Visitors can walk between the bastions and look into the church inside the Saint Andrew bastion, next to the cell associated with Kolokotronis. The climb from the old town is part of the experience: local lore speaks of 999 steps, though a real count comes out lower, and there is also a road to the top for those who would rather drive.
Getting there
The fortress rises directly above Nafplio; the larger town of Argos is about 10 km away. The nearest airport is Kalamata (KLX), around 88 km away.
Plan your visit
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Nearby places
- Lion Gate, Mycenae 19.2 km ยท city-gate
- Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus 24.6 km ยท archaeological-site
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Palamidi is a fortress to the east of the Acronauplia in the town of Nafplio in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece. Nestled on the crest of a 216-metre-high hill, the fortress was built by the Venetians during their second occupation of the area (1686โ1715).
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