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| SITIA |
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According to archaelogists, it is located at the site of the ancient town of Itia, the port of Presos and the birthplace of "wise Myson", one of the seven wise - men of the antiquity. As it is proven by the excavations at the Mochlo area and on the little island of Psira, the town flourished during the minoan age. References to the city in the third century B.C. refer to its citizens as Setians. When Praisos was destroyed by Ierapytna, Itia became the capital of the Praisian state.There were fortifying walls around the city of Sitia from the Byzantine period.
These fortifications were restored by the Genoese and by the Venetians but were never very strong. The contemporary town of Sitia was built in 1870, on the architectural plans of Avgi Pasha, after two centuries of almost complete desertion(1651 - 1870).
Among its buildings you will notice parts of the fortified wall and of the castle of Kazarma, which were built by the Venetians and were destroyed during the earthquakes of 1303 and 1508, as well as the bombardment of the town from the pirate Barbarossa, in 1538 and in 1651 by the Venetians so as not to fall in the hands of the Turks. For two centuries Sitia ceased to exist as a town, until 1869. The present city was built in 1870. Sitia is also known as the birthplace of the poet Vintsezos Kornaros, the composer of "Erotokritos". Worth visisting in the town are the Church of the Analipsis of Sotira,
the Archaelogical Museum, which opened its doors in 1984, and the Laographic Museum, where you will find lots of information about the daily life and the tradition of the area. From Sitia, you can visit the ruins of the ancient city of Presos, at a distance of 15 km. south of the town, the Hamezi area where has been located a structure of the mid-minoan and the ancient-empire period as well as the Monasteries of Faneromeni and Toplou.
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