Vitturi Gate: the "Gate of the Provveditore Generale"

Of all the bastions of Khándax (Candia), Martinengo and Vitturi are the strongest ones. The latter was originally called St. Eleftherios Bastion because of a small church near it and then it was named after the Provveditore Generale, Giovanni Vitturi, whose coat of arms was embedded in the corner of the bastion as soon as construction works were completed in 1540. Almost a century later, the Turks, who did not know where the weakest point of the defensive walls was, began their first major attack south of the Vitturi Bastion. At that time, the defenders were moving in and out of the bastion through the Gate of the same name. It was a Gate used exclusively for military purposes. Just like the other bastions, it featured an entrance from the inner part of the city to the low square and an exit from the low square to the trench. An exit gallery (sortita) led to the trench through the embankment. The defenders used such exit galleries to get out of the walls in order to attack the enemy or to clean and repair parts of the defensive walls. The entrance to the currently restored Vitturi Gate is located at Pediados Street, in the borough of Vigla. At the end of the exit gallery (sortita) there is a vertical mine shaft (mina) created during the siege of Khándax (Candia). During WWII, the residents of Heraklion used it as an air-raid shelter.