Árta

Arta stands on the Arachthos River in Epirus, on the site of ancient Ambracia. The Corinthian colony became the capital of King Pyrrhus, who adorned it with palaces, temples and theatres. In the Middle Ages Arta was again a princely capital, its castle and Byzantine churches testifying to the wealth of the rulers of Epirus. Among them is the richly decorated church of the Panagia Paregoretissa, built around 1290.

Arta belonged to a succession of Greek, Italian, Serbian and Albanian rulers in the fourteenth century. It became the centre of an Albanian lordship under Pjetër Losha and Gjin Bua Shpata, before Carlo Tocco captured it in 1416 after a long siege. The Ottomans took the city in 1449 and called it Narda. Its merchants maintained links with Venice and Ragusa, exporting goods from the fertile country around the river.