Bourtzi Fortress
Venetian island fortress built onto bare bedrock, guarding the harbour mouth since the fifteenth century.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Bourtzi Fortress, the islet castle in Nafplio's harbour, treats the building as a feat of engineering. It starts in June fourteen seventy-one with the architect Antonio Gambello, the engineer Brancaleone and a bare rock with no flat ground to build on. It also follows the chain that once stretched to the shore and gave the port its old name. Best heard from the boat as it circles the islet.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Five Brothers
Surviving harbour-side bastion where five Venetian cannons bearing the winged lion still face the bay.
The Land Gate
Reconstructed Venetian gateway that once shut at sunset, guarding the only land entry to the old town.
Palamidi Fortress
Hilltop Venetian fortress of eight bastions, reached by a long stone stair and later used as a prison.
Archaeological Site of Asine
Rocky seaside acropolis with Hellenistic bastions above a harbour town razed in antiquity.
Castle of Argos (Larisa)
Hilltop fortress of Mycenaean, Byzantine, Frankish and Ottoman walls above a wide plain.
Fortress of Acronauplía
Hilltop citadel of Venetian walls and gates, once a prison, overlooking the old town and gulf.