Parga Castle

Parga Castle stands on a rocky peninsula above the town, with the sea on three sides. Parga came under Venetian rule in 1401 and, apart from short Ottoman interruptions, stayed Venetian until the Republic fell in 1797. The Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa burned the fortress and the houses inside it in 1537. It was rebuilt and destroyed more than once after that. An inscription over the outer gate dates one section of wall to 1707 and the governor Marco Teotochi.

The last fortress was begun by the Venetians in 1792 and finished in 1808 by the French. A stone door next to the powder magazine still reads "Défense de la Patrie A.D. 1808". The castle held out against Ali Pasha's attacks until 1819, when the British sold Parga to him. Ali strengthened the walls, added a harem and a hammam, and built his own citadel at the highest point.

On the arched entrance gate you can see the winged lion of Saint Mark, the name "ANTONIO CERVASS 1764", Ali Pasha's emblems and double-headed eagles. Inside are vaulted passages, bastions, barracks and storerooms. About 400 houses were once packed inside the walls. In 2020 the municipality cleaned and restored the castle under the supervision of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Preveza. The rebuilt barracks near the entrance now house a café.