Project Description

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Fragades

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Fragades

Fragades is a picturesque village, built amphitheatrically at an altitude of 960 meters, opposite to the imposing Mitsikeli, 58 km away from Ioannina. They owe their name to Antonios Franco, who killed the Serbian ruler of Ioannina Thomas Perlubo in 1431. Fragades, a compound settlement since 1431, grew in 1583, with inhabitants of neighboring villages. The village was burned down during the Second World War, but its inhabitants rebuilt it.

The stone church of Saint Dimitrios (1779) with its imposing polygonal bell tower is an impressive sight of the village. Of the same value is the central square with the big plane tree, the temples of Saint Dimitrios (17th century) and Panagia, the well-preserved stone houses and the old watermill of Valleka. At the south of the village, in the location of Mylos, where the ruins of the old mill and the tributary of Zagoritikos are found, there is the stone bridge, built in 1830, at the expense of T. Petzioni. The bridge was named after him and is one of the largest and most impressive of Zagori.

Below the central square, there is the monastery of Saint Nikolaos of Fragades, founded in 1578. The monastery suffered from new damage from a subsidence and since then it has been repaired several times (the last was in 1960). Today, only the monastery’s temple is preserved. Southeast of Fragades, on a small hill (Paliomonastero), the ruins of an old monastery are found, which according to tradition were dedicated to the Taxiarches Gabriel and Michael, and belonged to the communities of Fragades and Leptokaria.

There is a trail starting from Fragades, that leads to the bridge of Petsioni and to Dipotamos after 2 hours of walk (Z23). Other paths lead to the waterfall of Tolis, Mylos of Alexandris and Saint Christopher.

ALL THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES