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All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it. Text edited by Rosamie Moore.

Map of Asso Asso (Assos)        

Key dates:
1586 The Venetian Senate is asked by the Cephalonians to build a fortress on the northern part of the island
1595 The fortress of Asso is completed

In the XVIth century the Ottoman Empire conquered much of North Africa, mainly because of the action of Khayr al Din, first a corsair and then an admiral, known in the West as Barbarossa, because of his red beard. Corsair raids moving from Algiers and Tunis towards the coasts of Spain and Italy became very frequent. The Ionian Islands were a target for these raids even during the periods of peace between the Ottoman Empire and Venice. The villages in the northern part of Cefalonia were far from the main fortress and their inhabitants appealed to the Venetian Senate for a better defence.

View of the Fortress from the road leading to the northern tip of the island
View of the Fortress from the road leading to the northern tip of the island

The site chosen was an islet linked to the mainland by a tiny strip of land in a part of the island where the coast is precipitous and does not allow the landing of troops.

Entrance to the fortress
Entrance to the fortress

The Venetians built a very large fortress with the intent of attracting to it a sizeable population, but this objective was not achieved because, while perfect from a military standpoint, the site was unfavourable from the commercial and agricultural aspects.

Long inscription celebrating the completion of the fortress
Long inscription celebrating the completion of the fortress

A very long inscription near the main gate provides details on the history of the fortress and makes clear reference to the corsair raids (NE AMPLIUS TYRANNICAS INCURSiones PATERENT : so that - the inhabitants - would not suffer any longer the large tyrannical incursions - of the corsairs).

A forgotten cannon
A forgotten cannon

The external walls are still in rather good shape, notwithstanding the fact that the fortress was abandoned some 50 years ago and that the area was hit by a disastrous earthquake in 1953. The interior of the fortress, however, is very disappointing and it is very difficult to locate the buildings which once made up the fortress.

Views of the cove and of the northern part of the island and of Santa Maura
Views of the cove and of the northern part of the island and of Santa Maura

The fortress has excellent views towards the northern part of the island, the peninsula of Phiskardo, a village where Robert Guiscard, Norman King of Naples died in 1085 and which is named after him. The view goes beyond this peninsula to reach the southern tip of the island of Santa Maura, which was in Turkish hands when the fortress of Asso was built. Santa Maura was conquered by the Venetians in 1684 and this fact reduced the importance of the fortress of Asso.

Itaca

Ithaca
Itaca (seen from Poros, eastern coast of Cefalonia)

From the eastern coast of Cefalonia, Itaca is within easy reach, but....

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon - you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
There may be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, with what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind -
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Ithaka by Constantine Kavafis - 1910 - Alexandria, Egypt
Translation by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard - Princeton Paperbacks

Excerpts from Memorie Istoriografiche del Regno della Morea Riacquistato dall'armi della Sereniss. Repubblica di Venezia printed in Venice in 1692 and related to this page:

Fortezza d'Asso

E l'importante Fortezza d'Asso, ò Nasso nell'Isola di Cefalonia fabricata da Veneti nel 1595 per difesa di quelle genti incapace la Città di Cefalonia a riccoverare tutte quelle dell'Isola nell'occasione di nemica invasione; ha il suo sito sopra mont'altissimo, circondato dal mare, tutto dirupato, e scoscese, in modo tale, che pochi, piccioli, malsicuri sentieri ponno godere li Passaggieri: ha una fortificatione, anzi trincieramento accomodato all'inegualità del sito, in maniera che non v'è parte fortificata, che sia regolare, anzi tutta ineguale, tortuosa, c'hà diversi ripiegamenti, fatti sicuri dalla fortezza del sito. Hà una lingua di Terra di larghezza di venti passi incirca, che la congiugne all'Isola, e per la quale si camina alla Fortezza, ch'in penisola giace, che per esser separata solamente da semplice muro, fù altre volte proposto nel più ristretto d'escavarla di buon fosso fiancheggiato.
Si numerano in essa 60 publiche habitationi, e 200 de particolari.
Alle radici d'essa v'è un Porto assai picciolo, ridotto per poco più ditre Galee, che si và anco perdendo, perche al tempo delle pioggie corrono da monti Torrenti, che lo vanno atterrando de sassi, e terra, al quale per la sua situatione non si può prestar rimedio.
Al Governo d'essa viene dal Maggior Consiglio di Venezia eletto un Patritio ogni trentadue mesi con titulo di Proveditore, de quali il primo fu eletto del 1596 alli 23 Giugno.

Introductory page on the Venetian Fortresses

Map of the fortresses Corfu Butrinto Dodoni Ioanina Parga Paxi Preveza Nikopolis Vonizza Santamaura/Lefkada Asso Itaca Patrasso, Castel di Rumelia, Castel di Morea Lepanto Cefalonia Zante Navarino Calamata Castel Tornese and Glarenza Modon Corone Mistrà Malvasia Castelrosso Schiatto Scopello Alonisso Negroponte Oreo Corinto Egina Atene Hadrian's Athens Napoli di Romania/Nafplio Argo Cerigo/Kythira Tinos Micono Milo Nasso Candia/Creta Fortresses of Maina Lemno Stampalia Scio Schiro Andro Spezzia Imbro Tenedo Patmo Lero Calimno Metelino Metimno Cunda Candarli Fochies Cismes Argentiera Sifno Serifo Paris Antiparis Siro Rhodes Coo Castel S. Pietro Lindos Nissiros Symi Castelrosso (Kastelorizo) The Asklepeion of Kos Santorino Folegandros Afrodisias Ephesus Kale Sultanieh Kilitbahir Pergamum Sardis Seddulbahir Roman Smyrna Delphi Priene Miletus Didyma Iasos Euromos Milas Eleusis Roman Corinth default - Corfù
Clickable map: hover on the dots

On the Ionian Islands:     Corfù (Kerkyra)     Paxo (Paxi)     Santa Maura (Lefkadas)     Cefalonia (Kephallonia)     Asso (Assos)     Itaca (Ithaki)     Zante (Zachintos)     Cerigo (Kythera)
On the mainland: Butrinto (Butrint)     Parga     Preveza and Azio (Aktion)     Vonizza (Vonitsa)     Lepanto (Nafpaktos)     Atene (Athens)
On Morea:     Castel di Morea (Rio), Castel di Rumelia (Antirio) and Patrasso (Patra)     Castel Tornese (Hlemoutsi) and Glarenza     Navarino (Pilo) and Calamata     Modon (Methoni)     Corone (Koroni)     Braccio di Maina, Zarnata, Passavà and Chielefà     Mistrà     Corinto (Korinthos)     Argo (Argos)     Napoli di Romania (Nafplio)     Malvasia (Monemvassia)
On the Aegean Sea:     Negroponte (Chalki)     Castelrosso (Karistos)     Oreo     Lemno (Limnos)     Schiatto (Skiathos)     Scopello (Skopelos)     Alonisso     Schiro (Skyros)     Andro (Andros)     Tino (Tinos)     Micono (Mykonos)     Siro (Syros)     Egina (Aegina)     Spezzia (Spetse)     Paris (Paros)     Antiparis (Andiparos)     Nasso (Naxos)     Serifo (Serifos)     Sifno (Syphnos)     Milo (Milos)     Argentiera (Kimolos)     Santorino (Thira)     Folegandro (Folegandros)     Stampalia (Astipalea)     Candia (Kriti)
Genoese Bases:     Metelino (Mytilini)     Metimno (Molyvos)     Cunda (Alibey)     Fochies (Foca)     Candarli     Cismes (Cesme)     Scio (Chios)
Fortresses of the Knights of Rhodes:     Lero (Leros)     Calimno (Kalimnos)     Coo (Kos)     Castel S. Pietro (Bodrum)     Symi     Nissiros     Rhodes (Rodos)     Lindos     Castelrosso (Kastelorizo)     Other fortresses
Ottoman fortresses:     Imbro (Gokceada)     Tenedo (Bozcaada)     Seddulbahir     Kale Sultanieh (Canakkale)     Cilitbahir
Other locations shown in the map:     Patmos     Dodoni (Dodona)     Nikopolis     Roman Corinth     Hadrian's Athens     Pergamum     Roman Smyrna     Sardis (Sart)     Ephesus     Afrodisia     Delphi     Eleusis     Ioanina    Kos    Priene    Miletus    Didyma    Iasos    Euromos    Milas

You may refresh your knowledge of the history of Venice in the Levant by reading an abstract from the History of Venice by Thomas Salmon, published in 1754. The Italian text is accompanied by an English summary.