Kavalini Mansion

In the past, the eastern bay of Avlemonas was the heart of the settlement and of commerce, becoming one of the main ports of Kythera. This imposing building, the Kavalini mansion, was a reference point for the harbor, changing many uses during its historical course. In the early 19th century, the well-known family Kountouriotis from Hydra, which played a leading role in the Greek Revolution, bought two properties in the most important ports of the island, this building and one in Kapsali. Angelos Cavallini took the house and expanded it in 1827, when he passed through Kythera as captain, and fell in love and married Rosa Vidi, with whom she had 10 children. Cavallini, who was from a wealthy family of Genoa, used this house, in addition to his family's residence and as a customs office, when he was vice-consul of the Austrian Empire (he was a guarantor of a commercial sovereign during the British rule), and an agent of the Lloyds Triestino house. In the building, not only did people register the transactions, but they started using the built ovens to bake bread and sell it along with other products on the ships. One of his sons lived in Kapsali and was consul of Austria-Hungary. Two generations later, Cavallini returned from America and turned the ground floor into a cafe and grocery store for sailors and residents, something that his wife Georgia continued after his death, and the locals still remember her. This building is also known as the house with the sundial, which was installed by Angelo Cavallini himself, and is today the only one in good condition on the island, since it was carefully restored by the caretakers of the Acropolis. The building was recently reconstructed highlighting many of its traditional elements, such as the limestone in the openings, the dry stone walls and the cistern with the gutter among others.