Koroni Castle

The Venetian period lasted for three centuries, during which time Koroni and Methoni, or Coron and Modon?the first Venetian possessions on the Greek mainland?became, in the words of a Venetian document, "the receptacle and special nest of all our galleys, ships, and vessels on their way to the Levant", and by virtue of their position controlling the Levantine trade were known as "the chief eyes of the Republic".[12][13] The town flourished as an waystation of merchants and pilgrims to the Holy Land. Koroni in particular was famous for its cochineal, from which crimson dyes were made, and for the Venetian engineers'expertise in siege engines, which was much in demand by the princes of Frankish Greece in their wars.[14] Of the two, Koroni was the more important: when the two captains of the fortresses were increased to three towards the end of the 13th century, the two resided in Koroni, and in emergencies a bailo resided there as an extraordinary consul.[15] During this period Koroni became the seat of bishops of the Latin Church. As the Catholics imitated the pre-existing Byzantine ecclesiastical structure, the Latin bishop of Koroni remained a suffragan of the Latin Archbishop of Patras.[16] One of its bishops, Angelo Correr, later became Pope Gregory XII.[17][18][19] No longer a residential Catholic bishopric, Corone is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[20]