The Naval Base of Navarino: Mapping the Fortifications of the Italians in Pylos

Abstract

October 28, 1940. The Greek-Italian war begins between Greece and the coalition of Italy and Albania after the former refuses to grant the Italian forces safe passage across the Greek borders. The occupation of Greece by both the Italians and Germans and the subsequent bloody events are often a field of controversy because of the brutality that these memories evoke.

The present paper deals with the above subject and presents one of the most important, if not the most, Italian naval base in the Peloponnese, which was called the base of Navarino (Pylos) and was characterized by the Italians themselves as the “first Italian temporary naval base” (prima base passegera) after Taranto, Italy.

The purpose of this paper is not to delve into the events, but to map and highlight the fortifications, especially in the major part of the Italian barracks, which was located south of Pylos, on Mount Agios Nikolaos. Thus, for the first time, scientific documents and photographic evidence from the bunkers and other fortifications reach the public eye, while a complete mapping of these sites is being made, thus contributing to the preservation of the memory of this distinct cultural heritage for a theme and an area that until our days very few people have looked at. To be sure, no one has so far entered the process of mapping it, thereby making the danger of full-fledged dissolution a probable scenario.