About the story of Citta Dei Nicliani
So much water under the bridge, and here it is, still standing. However, that wasn’t always the case. Situated in Koita, one of the oldest villages in Mani (Greece), the Citta Dei Nicliani hotel is designated as an ancient monument under the 5th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities. Let us take you back in history for a bit.
During the great Ottoman Age, Koita was known to be the birthplace of Nicliani, a powerful clan from Mani. In 1618, along with other large families, they sent an open letter to the Italian Duke Charles I of Devereaux to stand by them and help bring freedom to Greece. Since then the city has known one last major family feud in 1871 between the families of Kaourianon and Kourianon. The dispute was so heavy that it took an intervention of the army to bring everything back in order.
Almost 40 years later, this building was brought back to life for the housing of the Greek Royal Gendarmerie. Since 1940 the Greek Royal Gendarmerie stopped operations because of the occupation by the Germans. The construction remained empty until 1941.
As if the boutique hotel to be, hadn’t gone through enough. Next in line to take over would be the ELAS, also called the Greek People’s Liberation Army. During the Greece Civil War, the Citta Dei Nicliani was under control of the forces of ELAS from 1946 to 1949. The mysterious thing about that part is that after the ELAS partisans left, they burned all the records and traces. It’s like they were never even there.
The city had become a ghost town and it wasn’t until 2011 that the building finally was renovated and revamped into an affordable luxury boutique hotel.
