The Local Community of Granitsa is a capital village of the
former municipality of Aperantia. The inhabitants of ancient
Aperantia were the Aperantii or Aperantoi and historically they
belonged to one of the many races of the Aitolians.
It is built
on the slope of Aelias hill, part of Mt. Fteris with its highest
peak being Kalogeros, in the Western Agrafo mountain range. At the
foot of the hill and Fteri is the large Granitsiotis stream, which
flows into Acheloos. The view from the village is amazing, east
towards the mountain range, south towards its ends towards the
Kremasto lake and beyond it and west towards Acheloos and the Valtos
mountain range. For the name of the mountain Kalogeros there is also
the relevant myth. Once a monk arrived in the village and declared
that he was determined to spend the winter in the mountains. The
Granitsiotes tried to persuade him, but he was determined and left
for the slopes of the mountain. In the spring the monk did not
appear and the villagers, looking for him, found him dead. From then
on, the mountain was called Kalogeros.
The founding time of Granitsa and the origin of its name are not
known. The late Panos Vassiliou mentions that Granitsa was built in the
Byzantine years by someone with the surname Granitsas, a surname from
the village's basics until today.
At the beginning of the 20th
century, two great events occurred. An unprecedented flood in 1910 and a
great earthquake in 1917. The flood came from several days of continuous
heavy rainfall which resulted in the collapse of the north-west side of
Kalogeros, towards the Baltenisi area and which swept away everything in
its path. So the river bed was flooded and the rush of water consumed
the estates that were on the right and left of it. It was indeed a big
blow to the agricultural production of the village, which decreased
noticeably. The second event, smaller in its importance, was the
earthquake of 1917. It demolished or made many houses in ruins, which
needed to be rebuilt or repaired. The village was also affected by the
earthquake of 1963, which affected all of Evrytania.
Until the 1960s
the village consisted of three main settlements. The main village with
275 inhabitants, Kato Potamia with 340 inhabitants and Upper Potamia
with 273 inhabitants. Today the settlement of Ano Potamia has been
completely deserted. Its inhabitants have been transferred to the
village. Kato Potamia has few inhabitants, it has a watermill that was
renovated and is in operation, it maintains two traditional cafes near
the watermill and after the latest interventions it shows a lively
touristic interest.
During the Turkish occupation, in Granitsa there
were 17 churches and the monastery of Panagia with 13 cells, which
collapsed after 1895. In his place today is I.N. of Prophet Elias.
During the holy liberation struggle of 1821, the brothers Nikolaos and
Vasilios Granitsas of Andreas and Ioannis Milias particularly
distinguished themselves.
Granitsa, with the Kapodistria plan and
law, was the capital of the municipality of Aperantia. With the
Kallikratis Law, the former municipalities of Agrafon, Aperantia,
Aspropotamos, Vinianis were merged into the new Municipality of Agrafon,
whose capital was Kerasochori.
The territory of Granitsa is
mountainous and that is why its inhabitants were engaged in farming. In
the early 1960s, 12,000 kg of corn, 5,000 kg of wheat and many livestock
products were produced from the approximately 3,000 sheep and goats.
Our village has produced many great people. The most important are the writers Zacharias Papantoniou, Stefanos Granitsas, Demosthenes Goulas, Michalis Stafylas, Pantelis Anastasiadis, Michalis Anastasiadis and Olga A. Plastira, the popular painters Christos Kagaras and Lefteris Theodorou, the doctors Leonidas Manolidis, Xenofontas Oikonomou, Folontas, Manonides Pantelis Yannis Gouras. Also, the assistant professor Panep. of Athens Andreas Granitsas, General Ioannis Constantinou, Gendarmerie Colonel Dimitrios Giannopoulos, Appellate Prosecutor Nikolaos Granitsas, Journalist Spyros Granitsas, Lawyer Alexandros Economou, Justice of the Peace Andreas Granitsas, Teacher Andreas Plastiras, Police Officers Pantelis Tolis and Nikolaos Kagaras, and the actor Dimitris Konstantinou.
Today's image of Granitsa is completely different. Today, the village
houses a high school, a high school, a doctor's office, ELTA, a full
Kindergarten and a primary school. It still operates a Cultural Center,
under the responsibility of the Brotherhood of Granitsiotes, as well as
many shops such as convenience stores, restaurants, 1 bar, 1
supermarket, 3 traditional cafes, 1 butcher and 2 hotels. Also, in the
Square and in the surrounding areas there are the statues of Zacharias
Papantoniou, Stefanos Granitsa, Demosthenes Goulas and Ioannis
Konstantinou.
So today, Granitsa, although remote from the
decision-making centers, remains a capital village that has almost all
the necessary services and infrastructures and can comfortably satisfy
every visitor.