The village is located on the end of a series of hills extending into the Thessalian plain northwest of Karditsa, and commands a broad view of the surrounding area.

[4] The current settlement dates to the later Middle Ages, but is located on the ruins of the ancient city of Ithome, which survived until early Byzantine times.

[4] It then came under the control of the autonomous Thessalian magnate Stephen Gabrielopoulos, and on his death in 1333 it passed to the ruler of Epirus, John II Orsini, who fortified it.

[4] In 1444, when the Despot of the Morea and future Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, briefly expanded his control into Central Greece, he installed a governor of his own in Fanari.

[4] A local bishopric is attested from 1382 to 1388 on, initially in combination with Kappoua (modern Kappas), but after the Ottoman conquest of Thessaly it became a separate see and was even raised to an archbishopric.