Qualla: Castle of Santa Maura https://qualla.com/castle-of-santa-maura en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:40:35 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/y/s/castle-of-santa-maura-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Castle of Santa Maura https://qualla.com/castle-of-santa-maura Castle of Santa Maura: Introduction https://qualla.com/castle-of-santa-maura/ Photo credit AlMare, Public domain. Stand at the northeastern tip of Lefkada and you see the castle projecting into the channel on a long, narrow spit of land — separated from the island by a moat, separated from the mainland by water, guarding the strait between the two. It is an odd, solitary position for a fortress, and it suited the purpose perfectly. For six centuries, whoever held the Castle of Santa Maura held the approaches to one of the Ionian Islands' most strategic harbours. The castle was not merely a fortification; for much of its history it was also a town, home to hundreds of families, a marketplace, mosques, churches, and an aqueduct that brought water 3 kilometres from the island's interior.

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Image: AlMare | Public domain

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/y/s/castle-of-santa-maura-wp/sqys-castle-of-santa-maura-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Castle of Santa Maura: Built on a Sandbar, Claimed by Many https://qualla.com/castle-of-santa-maura/ Photo credit Geraki, CC BY-SA 3.0 gr. The first fortification here was probably erected around 1300 by John I Orsini, Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, who had received the island — then known as Santa Maura — from his father-in-law, the Despot of Epirus. That early fort occupied the northeastern corner of ...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/y/s/castle-of-santa-maura-wp/sqys-castle-of-santa-maura-built-on-a-sandbar-claimed-by-many.mp3 0:06 2 full Castle of Santa Maura: The Ottoman Town Inside the Walls https://qualla.com/castle-of-santa-maura/ Photo credit Geraki, CC BY-SA 3.0 gr. Under Ottoman rule the castle became a proper walled settlement, known as Aya Mavra. A survey compiled between 1523 and 1536 counted 194 households — around a thousand people — all of them Greek Christians, alongside a garrison of 111 soldiers and 9 artillerymen. By 1670, when th...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/y/s/castle-of-santa-maura-wp/sqys-castle-of-santa-maura-the-ottoman-town-inside-the-walls.mp3 0:06 3 full Castle of Santa Maura: Sixteen Days in August https://qualla.com/castle-of-santa-maura/ Photo credit Jean Housen, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1684, at the opening of the Morean War, the Venetian commander Francesco Morosini led a fleet of 38 galleys and 8 galleasses against the fortress. The siege lasted sixteen days. Morosini's bombardment set fire to the timber buildings inside the walls. A bastion collapsed on 31...

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Image: Jean Housen | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/y/s/castle-of-santa-maura-wp/sqys-castle-of-santa-maura-sixteen-days-in-august.mp3 0:06 4 full Castle of Santa Maura: Passed Between Powers, Finally Abandoned https://qualla.com/castle-of-santa-maura/ Photo credit Geraki, CC BY-SA 3.0 gr. The Venetians modernised the castle through the early 18th century, thickening the eastern ramparts and adding bastions and outworks. When the Republic of Venice collapsed in 1797, the fortress passed to France, then to a Russo-Turkish expedition in 1799, then to Napoleon's force...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/q/y/s/castle-of-santa-maura-wp/sqys-castle-of-santa-maura-passed-between-powers-finally-abandoned.mp3 0:06 5 full