Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "SITIA Town LASSITHI".
In Sitia there was a Neolithic and a Minoan site. In the location
Petras, near the town, excavations that started in 1985 under the Greek archaeologist,
Tsipopoulou, have so far revealed a major Minoan settlement with Palatial-style
buildings, fortification walls, and many artefacts including a Linear A tablet.
The site was destroyed by an earthquake, abandoned in the New Palace Period, and
reoccupied later.
In Greek times, Itia was the harbour of Praisos. 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. In 1539, the pirate Barbarosa conquered the city and levelled
the forts and the town. When the Turks invaded the island the Venetians destroyed
the fort so that it would not fall into the hands of Turks. The ruins of a Venetian
castle are still visible today. A tower of three storeys has survived. North of
the fort there is a little chapel built from the ruins of a Venetian monastery
destroyed by the Turks.
This extract is cited Mar 2003 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
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