Remains of a fortification on the hill of Agioi Theodoroi, south of the village Kastelli of Achaea.
The hill took its name from the chapel of Agioi Theodoroi at the top, which was part of the castle.

On the next hill to the east, at an air-distance of 850m there are the remains of another castle, in similar condition with this one, named Kastraki.

The names Agioi Theodoroi and Kastraki were probably invented by 20th century researchers to distinguish the two castles on adjacent hills south of the village. Their real medieval names are not known. The village derives its name from the castles and is recorded for the first time in the 1700 census of the second Venetian period as Castel Apano e Catu. Apparently, at that time, there was an upper Kastelli on one of the two hills (uncertain which) and a lower Kastelli that existed between the 17th and 19th century around the cemetery of the modern village.
“Kastelli” is quite common for locations in Greece with an old castle nearby.

A Castelli is mentioned in the lists of castles of 1467 and of 1471. This must be a reference to one of the two castles in Castelli or maybe to both castles.

The type of construction implies a Late-Byzantine chronology (13th or 14th century). Perhaps it was initially a Frankish settlement, like various other similar sites in the Kalavryta region.

Structure, Fortification & Buildings

Atop the hill there is a small plateau which was fortified. The perimeter of the walls was about 100m. Inside there are the ruins of a cistern and of a rectangular edifice. Strong mortar had been used in these structures.

There is no mortar in the walls of the fortification. The wall is better preserved at the northern side where is up to 1m high and 1m thick. The particular feature of the walls of this castle is that the stones are unusually large with maximum dimension exceeding often 1m.

At the southern side the walls converge to the chapel. There is a rather plausible hypothesis that this chapel, measuring 5,5✖7,0 was originally the keep of the castle which at a later period was transformed to a church.

At the slopes of the hill, out of the castle the are the remains of many dry-stone houses. There are also the ruins of a 4✖6m, 20m from the walls that mught have been an external tower or bastion.

Sources