Zitsa () is a village and a municipality in the
Ioannina regional unit,
Epirus
Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
. The seat of the municipality is the village
Eleousa.
The municipality has an area of 565.566 km
2, the municipal unit 65.868 km
2, the community 29.169 km
2.
History
The first reference to Zitsa is in the Chronicle of Ioannina in 1382. It developed into a prosperous village in the Ottoman era and became a centre of wine production, something for which it is still renowned. During this period, it appeared in the travelogues of various Western Europeans, including
William Martin Leake (1809),
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
(1809) and
Henry Holland (1813). Byron, who spent two nights in Zitsa's monastery, was so enamoured with the village that he later included a stanza about it in his
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.
Zitsa became part of Greece in 1913. It was the site of fierce battles during the
Greek Civil War. In the post-War era, the construction of new roads and reorientation of the economy diminished the influence of Zitsa in the wider region. Wine production and tourism remain the two main economic activities.
Municipality
The present municipality Zitsa was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 5 former municipalities, that became municipal units (constituent communities in brackets):
[
* Ekali (Asfaka, Vatatades, Vlachatano, Gavrisioi, Ligopsa, Metamorfosi, Petsali)
* Evrymenes (Delvinakopoulo, Klimatia, Kokkinochoma, Lefkothea, Paliouri, Raiko, Soulopoulo, Vasilopoulo)
* Molossoi (Aetopetra, Chinka, Despotiko, Dovla, Ekklisochori, Foteino, Giourganista, Granitsa, Granitsopoula, Grimpovo, Kalochori, Kourenta, Polydoro, Radovizi, Rizo, Vereniki, Voutsaras, Vrosina, Vrysoula, Zalongo)
* Pasaronas (Agios Ioannis, Anargyroi, Ano Lapsista, Eleousa, Grammeno, Kato Lapsista, Lofiskos, Lyngos, Mega Gardiki, Neochori, Peratis, Petralona, Polylofo, Rodotopi, Vageniti, Vounoplagia, Zoodochos)
*Zitsa (Dafnofyto, Karitsa, Lithino, Protopappas, Zitsa)
]
Notable people
* Patriarch Jeremias I of Constantinople (died 1546)
*Dimitrios Zitsaios, benefactor
*Chrysanthi Zitsaia (1903–1995), writer
*Chronis Vagios ( nom de guerre: Achilleas Petritis),folk singer
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
.
Landmarks
* Theogefyro
References
Populated places in Ioannina (regional unit)
Municipalities of Epirus (region)
Wine regions of Greece
{{Epirus-geo-stub