Makrinitsa ( el, Μακρινίτσα), nicknamed "balcony of Mt. Pelion," is a village and a former

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

in Magnesia,

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Volos Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 59.903 km².

Name

The name is first attested in the early 13th century through the

Makrinitissa Monastery The Makrinitissa Monastery ( el, Μονή Μακρινιντίσσης) was a male Greek Orthodox monastery at Makrinitsa, near Volos, Thessaly, in central Greece. History The monastery was founded by the Thessalian magnate Constantine Maliasen ...

. "Makrinitissa" itself is a more scholarly form of "Makrinitsa", which must have been the colloquial name even at the time. It is of Slavic origin, originally ''Mokrinitsa'', a diminutive form of ''Mokrina'', "wet place", referring to the water-rich environs of the village. The name was Hellenized with the change of the first vowel to "a" from the Greek word ''makrys'', "long".

Location

It is situated in the northwestern part of the Pelion mountains, 6 km northeast of

. One of the most characteristic traditional settlements, full of mansions and houses that look like hanging ornaments on the green mountain side. One of the traditional coffee houses is decorated with a fresco by the famous Greek painter Theofilos. The picturesque cobbled paths of Makrinitsa are scattered with traditional water fountains. Makrinitsa is a popular tourist destination, especially during the winter. The village is the home of the

Museum of Folk Art and History of Pelion The Museum of Folk Art and History of Pelion ( el, Μουσείο Λαϊκής Τέχνης και Ιστορίας του Πηλίου) is a museum in the village of Makrinitsa (Volos), Magnesia, Greece. It is housed in the Topali Mansion ( el, Α ...

, housed in the historic Topali Mansion, with over 1,500 objects related to the folk culture and everyday life of the region.

Historical population

Gallery

File:Makrinitsa from portaria.jpg, Makrinitsa as seen from Portaria File:Makrinitsadown.JPG, Makrinitsa File:Markinitsautumn.JPG, Makrinitsa in autumn File:Makrinitsa6.JPG, Central Makrinitsa File:Makrinitsa3.JPG, Central Makrinitsa File:Makrinitsa1.JPG, General view of the village File:Makrinitsa dom.JPG, View of a traditional house File:Makrinitsa5.JPG File:Makrinitsa2.JPG File:Volos view from Makrinitsa.JPG

References

External links

All traditional settlements of Greece on Map
{{Authority control Populated places in Pelion Populated places in Magnesia (regional unit)