An unknown and ruined castle on a high rocky hill dominating the area above the village Ano Fanari of Argolid.

It was an ancient and a medieval settlement that became a castle towards the end of the 13th century.
It is considered to be the castle of the barony of Nivelet.

History

According to the data obtained for Fanari, it was an ancient fortified settlement, which was also used and walled during medieval times. The data so far (masonry, pottery, historical sources) date this second period of habitation to the period from the 13th century onwards, giving evidence for two different building phases.

The Frankish period of the castle started in the 1260s, after the defeat of the Franks at the Battle of Pelagonia (1259) and the subsequent occupation by the Byzantines of 3 or 4 castles in the southern Peloponnese, when the Nivelet family lost the castle of Geraki.
As compensation for the loss of the barony of Geraki, the Prince of Achaia William II Villeardouin gave the Nivelets a new barony, which consisted of various scattered fiefs in Messinia (mainly), Argolis and perhaps Ilia. Among them was the castle in Ano Fanari in Troizinia, which was probably the only castle in the barony.

In that period, there is mention for the first time of a castle in Fanari, which according to the Aragonese edition of the Chronicle of the Morea (the Libro de los fechos et conquistas del principado de la Morea) was built by Baron Jean de Nivelet.
Here we must point out that there is also an opinion that the castle of Nivelet was perhaps in Ilia, closer to the rest of the fiefs of the barony, while some scholars such as Antoine Bonne identify the castle of Nivelet with the castle of Crepakore or Palaiophanaro above the village Fanari in Olympia region. However, most historical evidence supports the theory that the Nivelet castle was the castle of the present page, in Ano Fanari.

In 1316 the last baron of the Nivelet family, John II Nivelet, supported Ferdinand of Majorca in his claim to the throne of Achaia. However, Ferdinand was defeated in the battle of Manolada and the victorious Louis of Burgundy (Louis de Bourgogne – husband of Mathilde of Ainault, daughter of Princess Isabelle) ordered the killing of Baron Nivelet, whilw he granted the barony to knight Dreux de Charny.
In this way, in 1316, the barony of Nivelet together with the castle of Fanari passed to Charny, who at the same period married Agnès de Charpigny, the last heiress of the barons of Vostitsa (Aigio). Dreux de Charny until his death in 1325 was the lord of the united barony of Vostitsa-Nivelet.

In 1357 the rights to the two baronies were sold by Charny’s descendants to Robert of Taranto, Prince of Achaia, who gave them to his wife Marie of Bourbon. At that time, the princely couple made serious efforts to strengthen the defense of the principality against the various enemies that threatened it (Turks, Serbs, pirates, Byzantines).
In 1363, Mary of Bourbon sold the baronies and the castles of Vostitsa and Nivelet (Fanari of Troizinia) to Nerio Accauoli, nephew of the Florentine banker Nicolos Accauoli. (Nerio, starting from these 2 castles, will become the powerful Duke of Athens at the end of the 14th century).

In 1391 the Navarrese mercenary company that had in the meantime gained control of the principality of Achaia and was at war with the Duke of Athens took the baronies and the castle of Fanari from Nerio. The castle must have later passed under the control of the Byzantines of Mystras, at the latest until 1429, when the Principality of Achaia was finally dissolved.

In 1456, two unnamed Greek lords proposed to Venice that they hand over certain fortified positions: Mouhli, Ligourio, Damalas and Fanari. (The proposal seems perfectly reasonable on the one hand because the Venetians already had a large part of the Argolis in their hands and on the other hand because everyone knew that the complete dominance of the Turks – and the Morea – was only a matter of time). Their proposal was received favorably, but it is not known if Fanari actually ended up with the Venetians. However, from Stefano Magno's chronicle we learn that in 1467 the Fanari was destroyed and under the control of the Turks.

Sources