Da Molin Tower at Alikianos
Alikianos village, which is located in a lush green area 13km away from Chania, during the Venetian Era was the seat of the local lords called Damolino (Da Molin). In this heavenly place, the Venetian military family of Damolino had built a magnificent mansion - tower, the ruins of which still survive in the orchards of the area.
The tower consisted of three buildings. The first was built by Marco Damolino in the early Venetian Era and was a tall tower with jagged ramparts, which the people called Vigla. The entrance was equipped with the inscription «Omnia mundi fumus et umbra» (Everything in the world is smoke and shadow). The exit was also equipped with the blazon of Damolino, depicting a mill with the inscription «Circumago, non flektro» (I gyrate, but not bend).
Later two more buildings were added, which were less important, but with more amenities. There was a large hall for ceremonies fitting more than 300 people. The halls of the buildings were decorated with oil paintings depicting the ancestors of Damolino and were richly decorated. The doors and the windows were gold.
The tower of Alikianos hosted the drama of the 'Cretan Wedding", the famous Cretan novel written by Spyros Zampelios. The story is as follows: In 1527, due to the economic oppression of Crete by the Venetians, the revolution of Kantanoleos or Lisogiorgis broke out. The rebels quickly prevailed in the provinces of Selino, Sfakia and a part of Kydonia.
The son of Kantanoleos, Peter, fell in love with the daughter of Francesco Damolino, Sophia. Kantanoleos visited Damolino in Alikianos and asked her daughter as a wife of his son. Damolino accepted and the marriage was scheduled. On the wedding day, Kantanoleos accompanied by 350 men and 100 women, came in the tower for the ceremony. After the ceremony, they all sat together at the wedding table. All the partners of Kantanoleos drank wine with sleeping drug. Damolino had called a secret army of 2000 men that slaughtered most of the sleeping men and women. Kantanoleos and his two sons were hanged immediately. The others were hung along the road from Chania to Rethymnon, one every half a mile. Some of them were also hung in Koustogerako, in the mountains of Meskla, while the captives were sent as slavers for the Venetian galleys. This bleeding marriage of the novel was associated with the tower of the Damolino in Alikianos and might possibly hide some real historical features.
