Few remains of a castle with a tower, at the top of a low and smooth hill with olive trees about 1 km NE of the village of Diodia, Messinia and 500 meters NW of the village of Sterna. Even closer is the village of Aetofolia, a few hundred meters north of the castle.

The area is called "Paliopyrgos", apparently because of the existence of this castle.

The old name of Diodia was Lóï (changed in 1927), hence the castle is mentioned also as castle of Lóï.

History

This was a Frankish castle and most probably a settlement that was created some time between the 13th and 15th century. It must have been one of the Frankish fiefs of the barony of Kalamata.

Loi is mentioned in the Chronikon of the Byzantine historian Sfrantzis as one of the villages granted by the despot of Mystras to his brother Constantine (the future Byzantine emperor) in 1428, after the end of the Principality of Achaea.

The castle of Loi is mentioned in the list of the castles of 1467 as ruined.

Structure, Fortification & Buildings

The outline of the original castle is not clear, but it seems that it covered an area of about 4,000 sq.m. within a perimeter of about 250 meters.
At the highest point of the hill there are the remains of a rectangular two-storey tower that are preserved at some height. On the west side of the tower there are the ruins of an access ramp under which there is a cistern (water tank) measuring 3.0✖1.5✖1.6m (pic.15).

The tower, which today is buried up to its first floor, had dimensions of about 5✖10m.This means, it was a large tower and it must have been over 10m high. On the south side, the arched gate of the tower is almost buried (pic.8). Its eastern outer side is visible today at a height of about 3m. and a length of about 10m. The thickness of its walls is 1.5m.

Within 30 meters around the tower there are various stone piles and scattered ruins of buildings (see also the layout). On the north and west side there is a visible trace of a fortification wall that in some places reaches 2m. height.
In the middle of the north side, the remains of an old fountain are found, which is probably from the era of Ottoman rule.

Sources