Spilia Gate (Porta Spilea)
Porta Spilea stands at the only remaining Venetian gate of Corfu Old Town.
The Spilia Gate was one of the four gates in the fortification walls of the town, which were built during the Venetian rule (1576-1588). Its name, as well as that of the wider region, is derived from the small cave (spilia) located at the foot of the New Fortress mount. The gate stood at the edge of the seaward wall and served to link the town with the port of Spilia. It opened to the ground floor, of the homonymous barracks, a two-storey complex in L-shape formation, with a 2,000 people capacity, which survives to this day in its reconstructed form. During the British Protectorate, the gate as well as the complex of the Spilia military quarter, was reconstructed. In the 19th century, the largest section of the seaward wall was dismissed, resulting in the Gate of Spilia giving today the appearance of a simple passage
