[1] It held great strategic importance in the Middle Ages, and contained large facilities for the production of sugar from the local sugarcane, one of Cyprus's main exports in the period.

The original castle was possibly built in 1210 by the Frankish military, when the land of Kolossi was given by King Hugh I to the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers).

It has been produced in the region for millennia, and is thought to be the oldest continually-produced and named wine in the world, known for centuries as "Commandaria" after the Templars' Grand Commandery there.

[6] Kolossi Castle appears in many works of fiction, including La milicia de Dios by the Spanish writer Eduardo García-Ontiveros Cerdeño.

It also appears in Snow Wasted by the Cypriot author Matthew Malekos and in the novels of several British writers, including Race of Scorpions: The House of Noccolo by Dorothy Dunnett, In Search of Sixpence by Michael Paraskos and Lionheart by Stewart Binns.