Kastania, Laconia Kastania, Laconia Kastania is a town in Mesa Mani, in Laconia, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit Sminos. In 1770, after the Orlov Revolt failed, the Ottomans wanted to punish the Maniots for their support of it. They attacked the two Maniot pyrgoi which belonged to the Venetsanakis clan. With them was the father of the hero of the Greek War of Independence, Theodoros Kolokotronis, Kostantinos Kolokotronis and his wife who was pregnant with his son. The Ottoman commander Hussan Bey, laid siege to the pyrgoi. After holding out for three days the defenders burst out of the
Metamorfosi, Laconia were responsible for much of the economic and cultural improvements in the area. This is exemplified by the systematic cultivation of the olive tree and the growth of the population in Katavothra, which by 1700 had risen to 128, comprising thirty-two families, compared with fifteen families seventy years earlier. The Turks reclaimed Laconia in 1715. In 1770, the enslaved Greeks rebelled under the protection of Russia. The Peloponnesus, especially Laconia and Messinia fought courageously, but the Turks called for the help of Turkish Albanians; the Arvanites, who brought immense devastation to the Greek uprisers by burning whole villages to the