Vónitsa

Vonitsa lies on the southern shore of the Ambracian Gulf, beneath a castle overlooking the sheltered waters. Nearby stood ancient Anactorium, founded by Corinthians in the seventh century BC and diminished when Rome settled its inhabitants at Nicopolis after the battle of Actium. Vonitsa itself grew in Byzantine times and became the last mainland stronghold of the Despotate of Epirus. The Ottomans took it in 1479; Venice later held it from 1684 until the republic's fall in 1797.