| Avia Αβία |
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| Location | |
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Avia
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| Coordinates | |
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Location within the regional unit
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| Government | |
| Country: | Greece |
| Region: | Peloponnese |
| Regional unit: | Messenia |
| Municipality: | West Mani |
| Population statistics (as of 2001) | |
| Municipal unit | |
| - Population: | 3,089 |
| Other | |
| Time zone: | EET/EEST (UTC+2/3) |
| Auto: | ΚΜ |
Avia (Greek: Αβία, ancient name: Abia) is a village and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality West Mani, of which it is a municipal unit.[1] In 2001 its population was 236 for the village, 605 for the community and 3,089 for the municipal unit. The seat of the municipality was in Kampos.
Avia is a famous touristic destination. It has rented rooms, hotels, taverns, cafes, etc. It also has a large olive production which is the source for the village.
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In the location where Paliochora is located today, the Homeric city of Ire (Ιρή) is supposed to have stood (Iliad I 150 and I 292).
The traveller Pausanias mentioned in his Description of Greece that the city Ire was renamed Abia by Cresphontes, king of Messene, after Abia, the nursemaid of his great-grandfather Hyllus, son of Heracles.
Abia was disputed between the Messenians and the Spartans. Abia became a member of the Achaean League in 181 BC.
In the city featured the temple of Asclepius. After Pausanias' time, Avia was not mentioned in sources. It was ruined by some barbarian invasions which rammed the Peloponnese during the early Byzantine period.
In the early 15th century, the location of the ancient city was founded when the castle of Mantineia was built, it was part of the Venetians and administered a part of the barony with the same name. Avia was forgotten and was only mentioned in Ptolemaic maps, in which written the ancient name of the area. Mantineia was abandoned from its inhabitants to escape pirate raids and settled in the inland village of Megali Mantineia, the rubbled area received the name Paliochora. A monastery built where the Asclepius temple was in the ancient time in 1775.
From the mid 19th century, its residents of Megali Mantineia began to settle again in the beach area and its settlements Paliochora, Archontiko and Kopan(o)i (Κοπάνοι) the modern Akrogiali
According to a tradition of the first Mantineans which acted to abandon the deserted coast of Palaiochora was Stavreas, Petrouleas and Kotsoneas. Stavreas built a house above a roch which ruled the south of seashore. It was one that had a great remark which were unassailable from the sea. From the other side had warriors and soldiers. Today, the house is inhabited by the Fragkoulis family. In the east side appeared a warrior and an image dugged from the outer wall.
The municipality was created in 1835 and its seat was Almyros, it included the villages Seltsa (Άνω Βέργα, now Ano Verga), Mikra Mantineia and Sotirianika.
In 1841, it united with the municipality of Gerinias and included the villages of Kampos, Varoussi (Βαρούσι, modern Stavropigi), Malta, Gaitses (modern Kentro), Brinta, Nerida, Bilova, Doli, Kitries and Altomira. Kambos becams the seat of the earlier municipality. It was dissolved from 1914 until 1998 and its villages became communities.
Its inhabitants moved in 1924 to the area of Megali Mantintia and moved to Paliochora. In 1926, Paliochora was renamed Avia and the settlement of Megali Mantineia was renamed Avia.
It built a school in 1922 in the location which a newer school was built in 1972.
After World War II and the Greek Civil War, its buildings were rebuilt and emigration occurred but in the 1990s, Avia began its small population explosion. Avia became connected with asphalt in the 1970s. Electricity, radio and automobiles were introduced in the mid-20th century, television in the late-20th century and computer and internet at the turn of the millennium. The municipality was created in the late-1990s. Avia became a part of the new municipality in 1998.
The municipal unit Avia is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):
| Year | Village population | Municipal district population | Municipality population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 324 | - | - |
| 1991 | 185 | - | 2,908 |
| 2001 | 217 | 528 | 2,391 |
Avia is connected with the road connecting with the Kalamata-Areopoli Road 4 km north. It is located south of Kalamata, southwest of Sparta and NNW of Areopoli.
Much of the area are mountainous and forested with some grasslands, farmlands are within the valley areas and to the east.
| North: Kalamata | ||
| West: Messenian Gulf | Avia | East: Laconia |
| South: Lefktro |
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