{"id":1498,"date":"2015-03-28T19:20:55","date_gmt":"2015-03-28T19:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atcorfu.com\/?p=1498"},"modified":"2023-11-07T13:13:21","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T13:13:21","slug":"san-stefano-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atcorfu.com\/san-stefano-estate\/","title":{"rendered":"San Stefano Estate in Benitses Through Unique Images"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span> Last updated on November 7th, 2023 at 01:13 pm <\/p>

\"Joustiniani<\/a>
Joustiniani family crest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The house of San Stefano was built on the hill just north of Benitses, in 1782, by a member of the great Venetian Giustiniani family, on the site of an older house destroyed by an earthquake- so the new one was built on a rock!<\/p>\n

The house was the centre of a large estate and took its name from the private chapel of San Stefano, which is built on the same rock as the house.<\/p>\n

Historical references.<\/h2>\n
\"San<\/a>
San Stefano estate house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Giustiniani was an old noble family, they moved from Constantinople to Venice and Genoa in Italy and became Italians in 1204 after the conquest of Constantinople by the Franks, soon the Venetian branch of the family dominated the Aegean islands of Tzia and Serifos and the Genoese branch acquired the sovereignty of the island of Chios some hundred years later.<\/p>\n

Sovereign of the island of Chios Ioannis Ioustinianis arrived in Constantinople in 1453 with 2 Genoese ships from Chios with 400 knights and 300 sailors to fight alongside the last Emperor Konstantinos Paleologos, against the Turks, in the vain and final battle of the Empire …<\/p>\n

Ioannis Ioustinianis wounded badly and lost his life shortly after the battle.<\/p>\n

Some members of the Venetian branch came to Corfu, the shield with the two-headed eagle in the church of Saint Stefanos indicates the Byzantine origin of the family.<\/p>\n

The farm<\/h2>\n

The farm passed by marriage into the Flamburiari family who lived there in the summer.
\nAt various times it was also used as a monastery, and latterly as a convent- indeed the aunt of the last Tsar Nicholas 2nd, an abbess, came with her nuns and when she went back to Russia she took a young boy from the village with her.<\/p>\n

He made his money in Odessa and then returned to Benitses and started the Avra Hotel.
\nIn the early 20th century it came into the Manessi family as a dowry, and the family still own the house.<\/p>\n

Photos<\/h2>\n

We warmly thank the wife of the memorable Stefanos Manesis, Mrs. Jan Manesis, which gave us all those pictures that are on this page and also the page with the “old Corfu photographs of 1900”.<\/p>\n

As you notice in the first group, most of the pictures are pics from Manesis family, and in the second group pictures from the workers in the farm during the first quarter of the 20th century.
\nOf course, the number of photos we have is countless, we will add some more in the near future with their comments where possible and when we are certain that the accompanying information to them is accurate.<\/p>\n