Medieval tower house at a distance of 600m northeast of the village Dafnonas of Chios, in an area with many similar towers.

A little further east of the tower, at 120 meters, there is the renovated chapel of Panagia of Lavrina, from which the tower and the surrounding area take their name. The church was destroyed in the great earthquake of 1881 and was rebuilt in 1994.
The word “lavrina” comes from “lavra” - a Byzantine word that came to mean a large monastic complex - and apparently indicates that the church belonged to a monastery, which in this particular case is the Nea Moni of Chios.

History

The wider area of Dafnonas – fertile and with lots of water – is scattered with remains of Byzantine and Genoese tower houses, about which very little is known. They may have been residences of landowners (Genoese or Greek), or they may have been towers of the monastery of Nea Moni (something like the towers of Halkidiki which were administrative centers of the dependencies of Mount Athos).
The area of Lavrina was part of Nea Moni before the capture of Chios by the Genoese (1346). In the following 2 centuries, it seems that the area became the property of the Genoese (who probably bought it from the Monastery).
We know that the estates of Lavrina were sold by Ploumou Justiniani, wife of Vincentio, in 1642 to Nea Moni, who thus became the owner of the area again and remained the owner until the liberation of Chios in 1912.

We know nothing about the history of the particular tower of Lavrina. It does not seem to have been a monastic tower, but rather a mansion. It probably belongs to the time when the island of Chios was occupied by the Genoese (1346-1566), so the most likely construction period is around the 15th century (or a little before, a little after). So the tower will be labeled as “Genoese”, even though in its masonry there are fillings with fragments of bricks/tiles reminiscent of Byzantine style.

Sources