Kastoria

Town in Macedonia, Greece, capital of Kastoria department, situated south of Florina on the small Kastoria lake; population (2001 est) 20,600. The town dates back 2,500 years but flourished mainly in the 17th and 18th centuries as a fur-trading centre. It is an administrative centre and a resort, and there is commercial fishing.

By 500 BC the town of Keletron had developed on the site. It was destroyed by the Romans in the second Macedonian war in 200 BC. The town was rebuilt and strongly fortified in the 6th century, when it was under the dominion of Emperor Justinian I, and it became an important halting place on caravan routes following the Via Egnatia. Between 850 and 990 it came under Bulgarian rule as Kostur, and was conquered by the Normans in 1083. It was part of the Serbian state between 1345 and 1380; five years later it was taken by the Turks.

Kastoria is the seat of a bishop.