Lithostroto & Square with Bell Tower
The heart of the town of Argostoli
Lithostroto is the main commercial pedestrian street of Argostoli.
It does not mean to visit Kefalonia and not to walk it.
It was named Lithostroto, as from the first period that Argostoli became the capital of Kefalonia, in the middle of the 18th century, it was the street of the city that gathered the commercial traffic.
It was one of the first cobbled streets and almost immediately became the center of city life.
Today, the old slabs have been replaced by white “tiles”, which make the Cobblestone one of the “brightest” streets of Kefalonia.
Lithostroto is flooded with people in the summers, but you will never see it empty, not even in the icy winter months.
It is the place where the people of Argostoli make their pastime, drink their coffee, make their chants and it is Lithostroto again, the place where the customs of the Kefalonian tradition are revived.
You will find all kinds of shops, traditional, modern and modern boutiques, as in the big cities of the world.
Lithostroto starts from Kampana square and reaches almost to the central square of Argostoli, Vallianou square. Along the way, you may see the church of Agios Spyridon, which has a magnificent gilded wooden iconostasis, as well as the catholic church of Agios Nikolaos.
At the end of Lithostrotos, you will witness “Kefalos,” Kefalonia’s magnificent theater.
It is the most historic square of Argostoli where they burned the Libro d ‘Oro in Kefalonia in 1797 , marking a new era for the local community without nobility and separations.
The French, with the advent of whom the “Golden Book” was burnt, planted in the square the “Tree of Liberty “and so they renamed the Square which until then was called “Saint Mark’s Square”.
According to historian Spiros Lukatos, under British rule, the square of the Bell was a place of torture and martyrdom of rebels of the island who often suffered from public flogging .
In around 1790 it is estimated that the ” Clock Tower ” was built in the square and in that time it was at least three stories higher than the other buildings in town.
At the edge of the Bell square there is a monument dedicated to the Polytechnic uprising. It has a large bell and rings every hour and in big events for the city such as fires.
The bell and the characteristic sound eventually gave to the tower and the square the name “Square and Bell Tower”.
In the center of the square you will see the typical graphical pump, a fountain from which it was running water used by the old city of Argostoli.
Four high palm trees of 150 years adorn the most historic square.
The tower housed commercial businesses and public services and offices of the Greek State until 1953 when the building was severely damaged by the earthquakes.