Korafi Hills and Cape Stillo

The Korafi Hills – or the Stillo peninsula – lie on the south side of the Vrina Plain bordering the Straits of Corfu. The rugged and dry limestone hills rise to 268 m above sea level. The valleys contain dense oak woodland and scrub. The coastline is rocky although there are a few sheltered coves with some wonderful beaches. According to local fishermen, loggerhead turtles lay eggs here.

The Korafi Hills are not occupied and experience very limited human disturbance apart from shepherds with their flocks. The holm oak forest located here is the best preserved in Albania. Because of its close proximity with Greece the area was a military zone until 1992 and access was forbidden. It is an important habitat for bird species that like a rocky environment. Golden eagle, peregrine falcon, rock partridge, blue rock thrush, rock nuthatch and black-eared wheatear are all spotted here. It is also a favoured site for marginated and Hermann’s tortoise.

A dilapidated bridge crossing the Pavllas gives access to the gorge of Cape Stillo. Cape Stillo is part of the Korafi Hills, which in turn is part of the designated Ramsar wetland area of Butrint. Wild and uninhabited, Cape Stillo is home to wolves, jackals and the rare white-tailed eagle.

Recent archaeological investigations on Cape Stillo have shown that the site may have Bronze Age origins. An incomplete rectangular stone-built enclosure is situated on a pronounced knoll with spectacular views over the southeastern valley approach, Butrint, and almost the whole of the eastern side of the island of Corfu. The enclosure wall survives to a height of 0.80-1.50 m and though simply built of unshaped limestone blocks the structure may have included gates.

Ceramic finds associated with this site appear mainly to date to the Late Bronze Age, with a smaller Early Iron Age component, though they also include wheel-thrown vessels of types that survive in use until the first century AD.

The structure remains enigmatic. It is possible that the enclosure initially served as no more than that; indeed, a link between enclosures and fortifications of pastoral communities are common in Epirus. However, the site’s elevation and geographical domination of the landscape, particularly its visual contact with Corfu, Butrint and the waters in between, means that an interpretation of refuge, watch station or signalling point can not be ruled out.