Nafpaktos · Western Greece
The Battle of Lepanto
On 7 October 1571, a fleet of the Holy League shattered the Ottoman navy in the Gulf of Patras, ending centuries of unchecked Ottoman naval expansion in the Mediterranean in a single afternoon.
Bronfeiten
Nafpaktos (historically Lepanto, Gulf of Corinth, Greece), where the decisive naval engagement of 7 October 1571 between the Holy League and Ottoman fleet is commemorated.
Redactionele duiding
Fought between a coalition of Catholic states — Spain, Venice, the Papal States and others — and the Ottoman Empire, Lepanto was one of the largest naval battles ever fought with oar-driven galleys, involving several hundred ships and tens of thousands of men. Among the wounded was a young Spanish soldier, Miguel de Cervantes, who lost the use of his left hand in the fighting and later called it 'the most memorable occasion the past centuries have seen.' The nearby town of Nafpaktos (the Venetian 'Lepanto') preserves this memory today, including through the Botsari Tower, part of its Venetian fortress, which houses exhibitions on the town's history.
Aanbeveling
Nafpaktos's Venetian harbor and fortress, anchored by the Botsari Tower, let visitors look out over the waters where the battle was fought while tracing the town's layered Venetian and Ottoman past.