Gaios is the main port and the capital of Paxoi. The bay is protected by a small island where the ruins of a Venetian castle.

History

We do not know much about the history of the Paxos during the Middle Byzantine period. In the 11th century and at the beginning of the 12th, the island was occupied by the Sicilian Normans. After the Normans, it became a den of pirates for a long time. In 1215 the Despotate of Epirus acquired Paxos. In 1259, Paxos was among the territories that Manfred of Sicily received as a dowry from his father-in-law, the Despot of Epirus Michael II. In 1267, after Manfred's death, it was acquired by Charles d'Anjou, King of Naples.

In 1374, Paxos was among the lands inherited from Prince Philip II of Taranto by Jacques des Baux (or Giacomo Del Balzo), who inherited the titles of Prince of Taranto, of the Prince of Achaea and of the Latin emperor of Constantinople. But the queen of Naples, Joanna I, confiscated his inheritance, and Jacques des Baux tοοκ refuge for a while in Corfu, which was included in Philip of Taranto's inheritance.

In 1381, after the dethronement of Queen Joanna of Naples, Jacques des Baux claimed his rights to the inheritance. With the support of some barons of Corfu such as Adam San Ippolito, he hired the Navarrese mercenary company and managed to gain power in Corfu and the surrounding area (Vouthroto and Paxos). Jacques then prepared to campaign with the Navarrese in the Peloponnese to secure another of his inheritances, the Principality of Achaia.

Shortly before he left, he granted Paxos to the Venetian Adam San Ippolito, who had helped him, by a deed dated November 26, 1381. Until then, Paxos was the fiefdom of the Veronese Philip Malerva, who held the office of the captain of Corfu and who had apparently opposed the claim of the islands by Jacques des Baux. Probably San Ippolyto also paid some amount to Jacques des Baux who needed money for his campaign in the Morea.

In 1383, after the death of Jacques des Baux (perhaps even earlier), the Corfu barons (led by San Ippolyto) expelled the garrison of the unpopular Navarrese from the fortress of Corfu, and the island returned to the kingdom of Naples.
In 1386 Corfu was occupied by the Venetians and Paxos became a possession of Venice. The feudal lord of Paxos San Ippolyto, being Venetian, maintained the ownership of the island without any problem. Venetian rule on the island would last until the end of the Republic of Venice in 1797.

The first Venetian lord of the island was succeeded by his nephew Adam II San Ippolito who in 1423 requested and received from the Venetian Senate permission to build, at his own expense, the castle on the islet of Agios Nikolaos to protect the island from pirates.

The existence of the castle as well as the castle of Dialetos at Lakka (which is not preserved) ensured peace on the island and a long period of prosperity followed. From the beginning of the Venetian rule, many olive trees were planted on the island, which thus developed into an olive-producing center.

Adam II was succeeded by his sister Lucentia, who married Richard Altavilla, one of the barons of Corfu. In 1513 the Altavilla family sold the island to Ioannis Abramis for 3600 ducats, with the obligation to pay 100 ducats a year to Altavilla and his heirs. Because Abramis had to impose heavy taxation, many families from Paxos fled to Epirus, to the Turks.

In September 1537 the Turkish admiral/pirate Barbarossa, after his failure against Corfu, raided Paxos and left nothing standing. In 1571 there was a new disaster by the Turks and the island was deserted. Those who survived fled and were settled by the Venetians in the Diapontian islands.

The Venetians withdrew from Paxos in 1797. Then the French came for a while, then the Russians and later the French again.

In 1814, the English became masters of all the Ionian Islands and in Paxos they took the fortress from the French without a fight (although in previous years there had been bloody incidents between the locals and the French). In fact, Theodoros Kolokotronis took part in the British expeditionary force as a major, with the philhellenic Sir Richard Church in command.

Structure, Fortification & Buildings

What remains from the castle today are some parts of the walls, a water-tank, the arsenal, a watchtower and some canons. There are also two churches: St Nicholas and St John.

Sources