Filoti Village Naxos

Filoti village, the largest all Naxos, is located in the inner part of the island about eighteen kilometers from the capital Naxos Town.

Built amphitheatrically in the lush and generous Tragea valley, it stands right on the slopes of Mount Zas and is surrounded by imposing peaks and expanses of olive groves. It has about one thousand eight hundred inhabitants, stable throughout the year and in reality it contains three small settlements Rachidi, Klefaro and Lirii which together create this little corner of paradise.

The classic village with the unmistakable Cycladic Island style with its white houses, square roofs, paved alleys and framed by flowers of a thousand colors. The main street is the nucleus where the life of the Filoti village is found with its Kafenia (traditional Greek coffees) where you can enjoy a typical ouzo, taverns offering traditional dishes and shops where you can find something special to take home as a souvenir of the your holidays in Greece.

A village where tradition and customs are kept alive even by the last generations, in order to pass on the long history and customs over time.

There are many attractions in the Filoti village starting from the great plane tree that during the hot Hellenic days, with its foliage gives shade and coolness, where for centuries gone and for those to come, we gather to meet and chat on the thousand questions of the life.

Nothing is missing from Filoti, everything is perfectly in harmony with nature and the needs of men, but always respecting everything and everyone and perhaps for this reason, this small area is very popular with visitors because here everything flows slowly rhythm of events without asking too many questions.

Arriving in the square on the left there are two of the districts of the village Liiri and Klefaro where you can visit the Panagia Filotitissa a majestic church in honor of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary built in 1710. A three-nave basilica with the classic dome and a superb bell tower that , inside it houses old icons and a prestigious marble altar. Starting from 15 August, a big popular festival with traditional dances and songs to celebrate the Madonna is organized for three days near the church. At the foot of the church is the Barozzi tower, an imposing building from 1650 symbol of the Venetian domination that the feudal lords built as a defensive structure with a beautiful architrave at the main entrance and a blazon to identify the family. Next to the tower there is a marble wall with a spring of running water dating back to 1832.

Walking through Filoti village, you will also encounter a sepulchral monument of war heroes, the Cultural Association Center which houses a library, a cinema, a reading club and the Museum of the Greek Numismatic Collection in an ancient residence well preserved.

As we said in other articles, the Naxos island is full of old Byzantine churches and many of them can be found in the surroundings of Filoti village. Not to be missed are the church of Agia Irini with a splendid view over the village and the small chapel of Agios Ioannis above the top of a high rock hill where you can enjoy the magnificent surrounding panorama.

Filoti village also given its position has many sheep farms, there are about 60,000 of which produce products of the highest level and highly sought after such as tasty lamb or goat meat and a wide choice of cheeses kefalotyru, myzithra, xinotyro, anthotyro and the most famous Arseniko which means male based on goat's and sheep's milk with very ancient origins (we speak in 1000 AD), all obviously to be tasted...

Last and not least, the beautiful Monte Zas for a day of trekking with its source in the middle of the woods and the cave where according to mythology the God of the Gods Zeus spent his childhood.

According to our point of view, the best solution is always a vehicle of your own so that you can manage the time as you prefer, following the directions to get there. If, on the other hand, you are not independent, there are buses that leave Chora during the day in the direction of Filoti from the station to the port of Naxos.

Another small pearl to put on the list of things to see in Naxos, for a rural day and to discover the fantastic hinterland of this multifaceted island.