The now-ruined castle lies at the center of the village of Akrotiri.

The castle was built in the 13th century by the Republic of Venice, which had occupied Santorini in 1207.

[1] Near the small hillside village of Akrotiri, Venetians engineers constructed a new castle on top of an existing Byzantine watchtower; this castle became one of the most defensible positions on the island.

[2] The fortress remained unconquered throughout the first of the Ottoman-Venetian Wars before finally surrendering to the Ottomans in 1617.

The castle remained in relatively good condition until it was reduced to a ruin by an earthquake in 1956.