THE HISTORY OF ILIOCHORI:

Picture of Iliochori in 1890

DOBRINOVO TO ILIOCHORI
It is not easy to go back to the orgin of the town, from some historical findings it seems that in the 11º century BC, were formed, small isolated comunities, in the place of "Rascianà", "Lipochori" "Koukourounzu" and "Souri", that later on, for reasons that are ignored, probably for several reasons like the search of a place, richness of drinkable water, the inhabitants abandoned the place and constructed the town in the actual "Dobrinovo" (Slavic Name of the 14º century) that means Dobri+Novo (Good + New). But not all the inhabitants moved to Iliochori, some of them settled in Laista (the town that distant 14 km) that in this period was called Lisinitza. During the period of the slavic hegemony in the Epirus, (VI - VII century d.C.) the town of Dobrinovo already existed, as it turns out from the slavic evidences.
In the XIV century the Monastery of Panaghia was constructed by the creten monkies. In 1431, as the "Vrisochoritan" Nikolaos Exarchos reports in his book "To Ntombrinovo", the Turkish adminitration counts 1180 inhabitants. In the following years it kept developing either as number of inhabitants or as prosperity. It's learnt, from the evidences, of the existence of a document that contained a convention made with a doctor of Pades in order to offer mediacal attendance. The convention that in the period of one year established that the municipaly of Dobrinovo would have paid only the wage to the doctor in order to offer free medical attendence to the inhabitants, who have only paid the medicines. The documents were signed in 1616 and were destroyed with the fire of the Municipality by the Nazis in 1943.
In 1812 the french consul Pouqueville visited the region and reported that in the town of Dobrinovo he found 750 inhabitants. After few years, since 1815 in Dobrinovo there was a continuation of greek schools and lessons took place in the Monatery of Panaghia and later in some private houses. During the year there happened the first great destruction of the Comunity of the inhabitants caused the bubonic plague desease. The town cries numerous victims and the inhabitans shelter themselves in the mountains in order to escape from the disease.
In 1819 the Metropolita of Ioannina Gabriel visits the communities suffering by the disease and in the town he meets 160 inhabitants. In a letter of Ath. Psalidis dated 12-02-1823, sent to Movrokordatos, descrives the situation of the Epirus and Tessally, under the Turkish occupation, showing a Armed Struggle for the liberation. It reports that the town of Dobrinovo where people live, they were able to carry the weapons. The town of Dobrinovo in that period was in use the school separated for the boys and the girls and was constructed using the aqueduct that brings the water to the town and bridges that opens new roads. The inhabitants of Dobrinovo travel a lot and become traders but they do not forget their town and they contrubute for its development. The greek newspaper published in Constantinopolis, speaks about 1200 inhabitants in the town of Dobrinovo. Unfortunatly for the town follows a period of economic decadence! Before the Balkans wars in 1912, then the first world War, block the trade activities that the Iliochorites had created with the countries like Burgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, until Russia. Later with the arrival of the Spanish flue is pulled down on all the towns like also Dbrinovo with numerous victims.
1463 until 1912, Iliochori was under the dominion of the Turks, that had granted to all the towns of Zagoria a governmental autonomy with the payment of taxes. The town has rich the maximum development between 1870 and 1900.
From 1916 the population came decimated so-called Asian flu. The inhabitants of Iliochori lived of breeding of sheep, cows, of agriculture, cultivating grain, barley and vetch. They dedicated great cures also to the viticulture, producing a good wine. But they were also of the traders, in spring left in caravan with mules and horses, carrying of the goods that they above all sold in the countries of the Balkans, where many had constructed true and own economic fortunes. They come back to Iliochori at the end of autumn to spend the winter with the own families. In the winter months the shepherds dedicated to the handicraft, forming itineranti corporations of masons and sculptors in wood that travelling for the Balkans selling their goods.
Until 1914 in Iliochori there was the school of the chassis situated over the road of the currently city hall where the girls learned to weave. The building belong to the Gianussi family that had donated it to the city cuncil; beyond to the webbing school there were the elementary school, the primary and secondary schools that were found in the same building. In these schools there were teachers females for the girls and teachers males for the boys.
In 1912 the building this building was burnt and in 1924 started its reconstruction, finished in 1927; first master was Papasisis. After the 1920 the houses inhabited were 160, during the second world war the Germans are arrived to Iliochori in 1943 and have burnt great part of the houses of the town.
In 1926 the town change name from Dobrinovo was assigned the name to it of Iliochori that in Greek means "Town of the Sun".
In 1944 another battalion of German steped from the town, searching carefully without damaging it. The town endured large damages during the civil war from 1946 to 1949 and many inhabitants emigrated. It followed the period of the civil War and the town suffered large damages and between 1946 to the 1949 many inhabitants imigrate towards the east countries, the town did not offer many opportunites of joband many are moving in zones of greater cultivation like Thessally, the Macedonian, etc.
From 1990 many original of the place, coming from several parts, like Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Larissa and also from Italy,have begun to repopulate and revaluate the town, constructing new houses. In the period, are being born, many initiatives of building recovering like the renovate and the valorizatin of the church of Aghios Nikolaos. Always in this period has been born a small commitee for the creation of the tourist attraction like waterfall of "Balta Stringa", in the locality Rascianà that attracts visitors also from France. Dimitris Hatzis has written a beautiful book called "Double Book" and according the author the Iliochorites has large shoes and straight brain. This is our anthropological characteristic which the author reports. Who has more material about the history, old pictures of Iliochori etc might send by e-mail to our Webmaster or to our editorial Marketing.