Metsovo was the birthplace of many important benefactors with a national footprint. Today it is a famous tourist destination for all seasons, and is protected by the Presidential Decree on traditional settlements. The Metsovo Interdisciplinary Research Center of the National Metsovo Technical University also operates in Metsovo, with the aim of contributing to the protection and development of the mountain environment and local European cultures and the provision of continuing education.
Respectively, the Municipality of Zitsa is the second largest Municipality of the Regional Unit of Ioannina and is famous for its rich cultural environment. The ancient settlement of Passaron, the ancient city of Ilion, the castle of Berenice, the ancient temple of Zeus and the historic buildings and monuments built at the expense of the benefactors come from the local communities of the Municipality is a small sample of the great cultural importance of the Municipality , which can be further utilized for the development of thematic cultural tourism.
Metsovo
A multitude of donations are recorded in Metsovo from Vlach benefactors more or less important, mostly in use, but also a number of important points of cultural interest that are worth visiting to better know the birthplace of the benefactors and the way the area is kept alive. its history and its historical origins today. These are:
- The Averofio High School of Metsovo donated by Georgios Averof
- The mansion of the Tositsa family, which houses the Folklore Museum of Metsovo that exhibits textiles and embroidery, icons, decorative and useful objects, traditional wood-carved furniture, gold-embroidered costumes, weapons, coins, agricultural utensils and other exhibits
- the Averoff Gallery donated by Evangelos Averoff, where you will see a large and impressive collection of paintings by Greek painters of the 19th and 20th century, as well as a remarkable collection of sculptures and engravings. It is the home of leading Greek painters More than 200 works by great Greek painters of the 19th and 20th centuries are the dowry of one of the most important cultural sites in Epirus. Lytras, Gyzis, Volanakis, Parthenis, Chatzikyriakos-Gikas, Tsarouchis, Moralis, Fasianos are just a few of the big names you will see sign the works of the Averoff Gallery, which is housed in a magnificent building with three central floors behind of the settlement.
Exterior view of Averoff Gallery
Interior view of Averoff Gallery
- The Averofios Garden is a park of about 10 acres with all kinds of trees of Pindos, and includes various paths signposted to the Valia Calda National Park and on Mount Mavrovouni a mountaineering shelter for 30 people with overnight capacity. Inside, very well guarded, is the restored chapel of St. George, in front of which George Averoff prayed for help in 1840, before taking the road of exile. He has never been back since. But he kept his word and with the money he sent, he repaired he old church and built a garden around it!
Averofios Garden
I.N. St. Georgiou in the Averofios garden
- The Katogi Averof winery with its hundreds of oak barrels and wine aging areas.
Oινοποιείο Κατώγι Αβέρωφ
- The Tsanaka Folklore Museum, which is part of the CULTURAL LANDS project, in order to carry out the necessary repair and modernization works. Here in the old stone mansion of the Veneti family is housed the museum and its exhibits include objects of the Veneti and Tsanaka families as well as many families of Metsovo (surviving manuscripts from the 17th century onwards, letters, photographs, Turkish hodge collection with reference to Metsovo and the Vlachs, bronze and wooden household utensils, woven, looms). There are also two exhibition spaces where an old collection of weavers, pillows and embroidery of the 19th century is exhibited, as well as the wool processing area up to the stage of construction of weavers-pillows and woolen garments.
Interior view of Tsanaka Folklore Museum
- Another building, that of the Old Cinema, is to be modernized to accommodate uses for cultural events.