New Fortress of Corfu

Why go

The New Fortress stands on the hill of St Mark (Agios Markos) at the northwestern end of Corfu town, according to the Ministry of Culture's Castle Route and Odysseus pages, and was built by the Venetians as part of the town's perimeter fortifications, a project assigned to the engineer Ferrante Vitelli. The sources date it differently: Odysseus gives 1576 to 1578, the Castle Route's fortress page 1576 to 1588, and Hellenic Heritage says work began around 1576 and was not completed before 1645. The Ephorate of Antiquities of Corfu's text on Odysseus says the visit begins at the eastern front of the southern Seven Winds bastion and leads up to the large British-period barracks, and the Castle Route says the eastern part of the fortress is closed to the public because it houses Corfu Naval Base. Hellenic Heritage publishes a seasonal timetable for the fortress, so check it before going; its ticket page says entry is timed, for a single entry on the chosen date and time. The Castle Route says the Old Town of Corfu, its two fortresses and its perimeter fortifications were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2007; this record is the fortress, one component of that property.