The castle, "Castello Rosso" (Red Castle) of Karystos dominates the foothills of Mt Ochi. It is four kilometres from Karystos, between the villages Grabias and Myloi.

History

The hanging hill where the present-day castle now stands was first fortified by the Byzantines in 1030. The medieval Castello Rosso was constructed on Byzantine foundations by the baron Ravano dalle Carceri a Lombard lord to whom the feud of Karystos was granted, between the years of 1209 - 1216.

In 1276, the Byzantines returned for a while in Evia. The knight Liccario, a Frank adventurer in the service of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologos, captured the castle and the rest of the island, except Chalkis.

The Franks took back the castle with Bonifacio da Verona in 1295. After his death in 1318, his son in law, the Catalan Alfonso Fadrigo di Aragon, became the lord of Karystos and its castle.

The Venetians, who always wanted this place, bought it from the son of Fadrigo for 6000 ducats in 1359 and stayed there for 104 years. Under the Venetian admisnistration however, Karystos declined gradually. In 1470, the Venetians, being under pressure by the Turks and having no serious interest anymore there, left quietly and the Ottomans occupied the area.

During the 1821 Greek War of Independence, many attempts were made by the Greeks to take the castle. Odysseus Androutsos, Nikolaos Kriezotis, known as the “lion of Evia”, and the French Philhellene Fabvier, all lay fruitless siege to it. It was only after the liberation, in 1833, and the departure of the Turks from southern Greece that the castle gates were opened to the Greeks.

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