Rogoi Castle

Rogoi stands on a 29 m hill on the north bank of the Louros, which wraps around its base on three sides. In antiquity the hill was the acropolis of Bouchetion, a colony founded by Elis in the 7th century BC. Bouchetion was then a coastal town, perhaps an island, because the Ambracian Gulf reached further north than it does today. The town was abandoned after Nikopolis was founded.

The Byzantines resettled the site, probably in the 9th century. Rogoi became a bishopric and was fortified again. In the 14th and 15th centuries it changed hands many times between Epirote rebels, Byzantine emperors, the Serbs, Albanian lords and finally the Tocco family. It was abandoned after the Ottoman conquest in 1449. The traveller Ciriaco of Ancona visited in 1436 and 1448 and recorded that the relics of Saint Luke were kept in a church there.

The medieval walls follow the ancient fortifications and sit on their foundations. The two styles of masonry are easy to tell apart. Inside the outer enclosure stands the 15th-century church of the Dormition of the Virgin, the last remnant of a monastery. Most of the interior is ruined and overgrown, and apart from repairs to the walls in 1978–1980 the site has never been excavated.