The island of Spinalonga, officially known as Kalydon, is located in the Gulf of Elounda in north-eastern Crete, in Lasithi, next to the town of Elounda, near the Spinalonga peninsula, which often causes confusion. Actually it is an island only from 1526, since the Venetian occupation, when it was carved out of the coast for defense purposes. In 1578 the Venetians charged the engineer Genese Bressani to plan the island's fortifications. He created blockhouses at the highest points of the northern and southern side of the island, as well as a fortification ring along the coast. Afterwards they built stone walls, and the fortifications were extended, so that Spinalonga become an impregnable sea fortress, one of the most important in the Mediterranean basin. Along with Gramvousa and Souda, Spinalonga remained in Venetian hands even after the rest of Crete fell to the Ottomans in the Cretan War (1645-1669) and until 1715.
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