Nafpaktos Attractions

Náfpaktos (Naupaktos) is a charming little port on the north side of the Gulf of Corinth, 9km/6mi east of the Strait of Ríon. It was known to the Venetians as Lepanto, and became famous as the scene of the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571.

The ancient town of Naupaktos in western Lokris was captured by Athens in 455 B.C. and was used by the Athenians to house the Messenians who had been expelled from their city by Sparta. At the end of the Peloponnesian War, however, the Messenians were once again expelled. During that war, in which Naupaktos played an important part as a base for the Athenian expedition to Sicily, Phormion defeated a numerically superior Spartan fleet (429 B.C. - the year in which Perikles died).

From 1407 to 1499 and from 1687 to 1700 Náfpaktos was a Venetian naval base, which along with the fortresses of Ríon and Antírrion controlled the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth.