A small but imposing Ottoman fort built in the beginning of 19th century by Ali pasha.

Actually, there are remains from two forts at this point. In this page we present the newer one. The older one is also Ottoman and, being completely ruined and practically at the same location, is not presented separately.

Location & Strategic Scope

The fort is in the middle of the distance from Arta to Ioannina. The location was a mountain passage named “Kleisoura”.

Today, the highway “Ionia Odos” passes a few meters from the fort.

History

In Pente Pigadia, a small square fort had been built in 1760 by Kourt pasha of Berat who was the dervenaga of Epirus. The French traveler Pouqueville who passed by this place around 1800 reported that the fort was already in ruins.

In 1805 or a little later, Ali pasha of Ioannina built a new fort close to the old one. Ali pasha, those days, was very active in building or rebuilding many castles in his pashalik with the aim of French engineers and employing state-of-the-art fortification technology.

The castle, probably, remained in use by the Turkish military until the Balkan wars of 1912-1913.

Structure, Fortification & Buildings

The Pente Pigadia fort is relatively small with quite an unusual design. Despite its small size, it is one of the well-built and most impressive forts of that period and not only in Epirus.

It is a rectangular building measuring ~28m✖7m in the axis east-west with two huge bastions protruding around 13m at the north and south sides. As a result, the layout resembles a cross.

The main rectangular building was covered by a roof. The bastions did not have a roof.

The compound had two floors. The ground floor was a single space with a wooden roof. The upper floor was accessed through ramps. The solution of the ramps was preferred apparently for easier transportation of canons and ammunition.

There is only one gate located at the eastern side next to the northern bastion. It leads directly to the ground floor.

Around 150m south of the fortress are the ruins of the old fort built in 1760.

Sources