Ancient Koroni was a settlement of riches with a Roman mansion, baths and mosaics and modern Koroni is also rich due to the variety of the Koroneiki olive which is very nutritious and has won the epithet "the caviar of Messene" or "Messenian gold". Here the olive has a superior quality due to the soil, the longevity of the trees and authenticity. Moreover, it is more pricey and this is why those who own olive trees in this area work diligently in the fields. It is a grand inheritance.
Today, Koroni has one more mission: UNESCO has assigned the city to safeguard and disseminate the Mediterranean diet which is considered an intangible cultural legacy not only of Greece but of entire humanity. Koroni is an ark of nutritional values even nowadays.
AGHIOS CHARALAMPOS
An orthodox, Catholic and Ottoman monument
In an environment of attacks, conquests and destruction, the church of Aghios Charalampos offers us an observation on faith. At the place where the Orthodox church stands there was once a Catholic church dedicated to Saint Roch. In 1828 it became a Turkish mosque and today it is an orthodox temple. Once more there is a new take on the sanctity of the premises. It wouldn't be surprising at all to learn that under it there are also ruins of an ancient temple, since one viewpoint supports that the Christian church was built over the ancient temple of Dryops, the father of the Dorians. At the same place the divine is worshipped through all approaches ‒ East and West converge. The multicultural aspect of the area transcends through its holy places. Believers from different faiths and eras have met and prayed here. The embrace of God and of the saint is all-inclusive.
Aghios Charalampos was built by the Venetians in the 16th cent. An enclosed in the wall plaque of 1689 at the women's quarters commemorates Francesco Morosini awarding honour to the saint that the Venetians believed to have saved the city from the plague. The south-most wall toward the sea is linked to many folklore stories full of imagination and mystery. Here begins a steep, rocky and wild coastline called "resalto": at this spot people were burned from the fire of the revolt for liberation or found an opportunity to escape. Many unjust deaths took place here. After the west gate, at the Iroon terrace is a bust of the martyr Archbishop Gregorios.
The church operated constantly until its interior was burned to the ground in November 25, 2012 and the image one sees today with the burned icons and iconostasis is saddening.
