Sitia (Latin and Italian) or Siteia (Greek: Σητεία, Siteía [siˈtia]) is a port town and a municipality in Lasithi, Crete, Greece.

It has not experienced the effects of mass tourism[dubious – discuss] even though there is a long beach along the road leading to Vai and several places of historical interest.

[citation needed] The city continued to prosper through the Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods as one of the island's chief ports.

This final destruction took place in the context of the Cretan War (1645–1669) in which the Venetians battled to retain their hold on the island against the Ottoman Empire.

While Sitia did not fall in the initial Turkish advance, the Venetians did not have the resources to withstand a long siege, and accordingly destroyed the fortifications and removed the garrison to Heraklion.

The main remnant of the Venetian occupation is the Kazarma (from Italian casa di arma), the old fortress overlooking the harbour.

After the Venetian period and subsequent abandonment the town was rebuilt until 1870 by the progressive Turkish governor Hüseyin Avni Pasha following the Cretan Revolt.

Under Turkish rule the town was renamed Avniye[clarification needed] after its rebuilder, but as the local Greeks continued to use the traditional name of Sitia this innovation did not survive independence.

[7] In November 2011, Sitia incorporated the four communities Chrysopigi, Lithines, Perivolakia and Pefkoi, which had previously been part of the municipality Ierapetra.