Angelokastro

The cliff

Angelokastro stands on a cliff 305 metres above the sea

Angelokastro is a Byzantine castle on the highest peak of the island's shoreline in the northwest, near Palaiokastritsa. It stands on a steep cliff above the sea and surveys the city of Corfu and the mountains of mainland Greece.

Unknown date

Nobody knows when it was built, and the first record is from 1272

The exact period of building is not known, but it has often been attributed to the reigns of Michael I Komnenos and his son Michael II Komnenos. The first documentary evidence dates to 1272, when Giordano di San Felice took possession of it for Charles of Anjou.

A triangle

Angelokastro, Gardiki and Kassiopi formed a defensive triangle

Gardiki guarded the south, Kassiopi the northeast and Angelokastro the northwest. The garrison would signal to the city the approach of any enemy. From 1387 until late in the sixteenth century the castle was the capital of Corfu.

1403

A Genoese force besieged the castle for a year from 1403

In 1403 a Genoese fleet landed about 10,000 mercenaries at Palaiokastritsa. They laid siege to Angelokastro for a year, and after furious battles with the Corfiot garrison they were repulsed.

The Ottomans

Villagers sheltered inside in 1537 and the garrison fought in 1571

In 1537, when the Ottomans attacked, 3,000 villagers had retreated inside the walls, and the invading army was repulsed four times. In 1571 a garrison of about 4,000 peasants resisted again, and rolled boulders at the Ottomans as they passed through the mountains.

3,000villagers sheltered inside the walls in 1537