The Old Fortress and Contra Fossa

The great square nowadays owes its name to the Venetian word spianata, a large open space. That was the requirement of Venetian defensive policy: a great level field, long as a musket-shot trajectory, in front of the Old Fortress. This space was formed into a square in the short years of French rule. It was then that the foundations were set for the long Liston building, so much a reminder of the Rue de Rivoli in Paris; but the building was erected with the purpose of providing a little Parisian air to Corfu Town. It is a place where many Corfiots arrange to meet nowadays. Following French rule, the entire square was further improved by the British, who applied their famous landscape architecture techniques, and also turned the space to the east of the Liston into a cricket pitch.

Residential building complex on the Spianada, which was begun under the French empire and forms the main testimony to the French presence on Corfu. The rhythmical repetition of features on the main facade, especially the elegant arcade, reflects the monumental concept of urban design of the Napoleonic period in straight, identical layouts like that of the Rue des Rivoli. The ground floor was from the first given over to recreation rooms. The design and to some extent the supervision of the construction were by the Corfiot military engineer Ioannis Parmesan.