Syntagma Square
Stand in the middle of Syntagma Square in Nafplio and you're standing on ground the city has used continuously as its center for over 400 years — it just changed names seven times along the way. It's the central and most historic square of the old town, lined with cafés and tavernas, and the natural first stop for almost every visitor before they wander off into the surrounding alleys.
From the Venetian Forum to Syntagma Square
The square's history starts long before 1821. Back in the First Venetian period, this was already the site of the Forum — a market square built up by land infill, with the Venetian governor's palace right beside it. During the First Ottoman period (1540-1686), the square remained the city's center: this is where the Serai of the Ottoman governor of the Peloponnese stood, alongside two mosques. The square took roughly its current shape during the Second Venetian period (1686-1715), when it was named Piazza dei Armi ("Square of Arms").
During the Greek Revolution it became known as Plane Tree Square, named after the tree that dominated its center — town elders gathered in its shade to debate the problems of the uprising, while professional letter-writers drafted petitions to the government for the illiterate, for a fee. Two more names followed before the current one stuck: for a time it was called Barracks Square, and later King George II Square. In between, in 1834, it briefly took the name Loudovikou Square, after King Otto's father. Following the Revolution of September 3, 1843 — which demanded a constitution — it took its current name, Syntagma ("Constitution") Square, at the very same moment that Athens' own central square received the same name. The name's meaning deepened further in 1862, when the square became the stage for the Nafplio Revolution, itself fought over the same constitutional principles.
It's no coincidence that the square has been included in the "Charter of European Squares" and is considered one of the most significant squares of its kind worldwide — a fact most visitors have no idea about as they sit at the café tables.
The historic buildings around it
The square is surrounded by buildings that span almost the entire modern history of Greece: the Old Parliament — formerly Aga Pasha's mosque, which housed the first Greek Parliament —, Trianon — another former Ottoman building (the oldest surviving mosque in the city), which went from a boys' teaching-school to a cinema and today houses the Municipal Theatre —, and the Venetian Armeria building (a former naval warehouse) that today houses the Archaeological Museum.
The square was also once home to the palace of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of independent Greece, and to houses of 1821 revolutionary fighters — according to the Argoliki Vivliothiki archive, this is where the plot of Gennaios Kolokotronis stood (son of Theodoros — not the famous "Old Man of the Morea" himself, whose own family home was on a different street), and diagonally across, the house of Nikitaras (today owned by the Melissinos family). On the site of Kalliopi Papalexopoulou's house — known for her role in the 1862 Nafplio Revolution — the National Bank building was constructed in 1936, with a memorial column in her honor.
What to look for if you stand in the middle
The historic plane tree isn't just legend — the centuries-old plane tree still stands in the square today, on the very spot where generations of locals have met. Next to it, you'll notice a black stone cube: it was once the base of a sundial. It's the kind of detail that's easy to walk right past if you don't know what you're looking at.
It was under this very plane tree that one of the Revolution's most moving stories unfolded — the one that gave the Greek language the expression "Psorokostaina." In 1826, with Mesolonghi under siege and the nation bankrupt, teacher Georgios Gennadios organized a fundraiser here and gave such a moving speech that the poorest woman in the city — a refugee from Ayvalik named Panoraia Hatzikosta, who fed and sheltered orphans of the war by begging — offered the only thing she owned: a silver ring and a single coin. Her mocking nickname, "Psorokostaina," has remained in the language ever since as shorthand for a poor but proud homeland.
This is where everything starts
Syntagma Square isn't just a photo stop — it's the gateway to the rest of the old town. From here starts Vasileos Konstantinou, Nafplio's main pedestrian shopping street, and a few steps further the picturesque Staikopoulou, lined with traditional tavernas and gelaterias. In the evening the square fills with people — locals and visitors alike, sitting at cafés or simply strolling, with the lit-up historic buildings as a backdrop.
If you only have a little time in Nafplio, start here: it's the city's natural point of reference, whether for a quick coffee stop or to mentally map out the rest of your walk.
