Our story
Eight centuries cannot be described. They must be revealed.
Discover the storyTHE STORY BEGINS HERE
Stone remembers no dates. It remembers footsteps, voices, silences and those who left behind more than a name.
There is no need to take it all in at once. Let each image, word and pause lead you a little deeper into this place.
01 / Before us
Where time found its walls.
In Zacharo, Ilia, Paliopyrgos has stood since the 13th century. It is no stage set built to impress, but a historic presence that gave the region its name and still shapes its horizon.
Centuries passed around it. The land changed hands and the seasons changed face, yet the stone remained—not untouched, but alive, weathered and true.
02 / The days of Aga Lele
A name carried through the silence.
During the Ottoman period, the tower was the residence of Aga Lele. Its story has reached us not as a complete account, but as a whisper repeated from one generation to the next.
Perhaps that is why Paliopyrgos raises more questions than it answers. Each opening in the stone seems to guard a version of the past still waiting to be told.
Paliopyrgos remembers. It is the first thing you feel as you draw near.
PALIOPYRGOS · GIANNIS KAPOTAS ESTATE
03 / The family
The story descended from the tower to the table.
In Giannis Kapotas’s family, the past became inseparable from the land, the vineyard, the cellar and the everyday table. Thanasis and Panoraia left more than memories: they left a way of caring for what has been entrusted to you.
Each generation added its own chapter without erasing the one before. The place never became a museum; it continued to be lived in, cultivated and told.
04 / Giannis Kapotas
The boy who never left his home ground.
Giannis grew up on the farm, learning from childhood to listen to it. A treehouse was once his room; some nights he slept beneath the open sky, waking when the leaves began to whisper. In harder years, he crossed muddy roads barefoot on his way to school. The land was not his backdrop. It was his world.
The son of Thanasis and Panoraia, whose family had six children, Giannis proved a worthy successor to his father and became a teacher. He built his own family with his daughters, Panoraia and Christina. To Giannis, teaching meant passing on what deserves to last: knowledge, roots and a way of life.
When his parents were gone, Paliopyrgos fell silent. He saw it grow sombre, without the tables, celebrations and happy voices that had filled his life. For a while, he feared his kingdom and refuge would remain empty.
Then his daughter Panoraia—capable and energetic like her grandmother—returned with her husband Michalis and their son Giannis. Together they brought light back to the rooms, voices to the courtyard and life to the farm. The Paliopyrgos Project was born not to imitate the past, but to give it a next chapter. Today, the story of this blessed place is heard far beyond its borders, around the world.
Proud of his Kapotas heritage, Giannis wrote the book “The Kapotas Lineage — Our Roots — and Other Relatives.” It is a family tree told from within, preserving the names, bonds and roots that continue to nourish Paliopyrgos.
Download and read the book
05 / Today
The past opens its door once more.
Collectible bottles from 1946, 1967, 1972 and 1986 remain protected in the family archive. They are neither offered nor served; they are sold only through occasional auctions. Those interested may ask to join our collectors’ list. The stone farmhouse welcomes overnight guests, while the private table is set for one party each evening.
You do not come to observe history from a distance. You come to let your own night become a small part of it.