Old Fortress Corfu Citypass

The Old Fortress is the most famous fortress of Corfu. It is spectacular because of the sea moat that separates the peninsula from the island. The sea moat, which is a work of the Venetians, turned the peninsula into an artificial island.

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History

The most famous fortress of Corfu is the Old Fortress which dates to the Byzantine era (around 550 CE).

It is located on a rocky peninsula with two hills and is 600 meters long and 200 meters wide. The Byzantines fortified the eastern hilltop of the citadel, which was named “Tower of the Sea”. The new city that was founded at that time took its name from those two hilltops and was called “Korifo”, which literally means hilltop. Today, the initial name of the city has slightly changed to Corfu. The Byzantines added more fortifications later, while the construction of the main fortifications began in 1402 CE by the Venetians and lasted until the fall of the Venetian period in 1797.

The main feature of the Fortress is the separation of the peninsula from the island with a sea moat, which turned it into an artificial island. The separation was completed by the Venetians. At the same time, two bastions were built, which were named after the engineers Martinengo and Savorgnan. Inside the fortress, remarkable buildings were built, which housed political and military authorities as well as nobles.