Kastanitsa is first mentioned in writing in 1293, but the settlement is thought to be nearly two centuries older, founded by Tsakones fleeing the rule of Slavic tribes that had invaded the Peloponnese.

[5] This is not unusual in the area where many towns and villages were ruined by the depredations of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt and never fully recovered; those that were spared eventually lost population due to economic migration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Most houses are built from local stone, and the village is classified as a heritage site by the Greek government, which places controls on external renovations.

[7] Wintertime population loss has accelerated in the automobile age, and the village presently has only around fifty year-round inhabitants,[8] with a large influx of residents and visitors in summertime.

The village centre contains shops, cafes, taverns, a library, and the Church of the Transfiguration dating to 1780 and containing Russian woodwork donated by Catherine the Great.