The small beautiful village of Pitsilia with the long lasting history and the incomparable beautiful monuments.
Platanistasa is a pure Greek village of the province of Nicosia found in the heart of the rough ground of Pitsilia region, in the northern side of Troodos. If you follow the street of Nicosia-Peristerona-Orounta-Kato Moni- “Gefyri tis Panagias” the distance of the village from Nicosia is about 58 kilometers. If you take the street of Nicosia – Anthoupoli – Agrokipia – “Gefyri tis Panagias” the distance from Nicosia to the village of Platanistasa is only 40 kilometers.
The village of Platanistasa is built at an average altitude of 940 meters. The landscape where the village is found consists of rough mountains with narrow deep valleys and abrupt mountaintops that their height exceeds the 1000 meters. The river of Peristerona, Serrachis, dismembers the entire landscape.
Archaeological discoveries and remnants, (pre-Christian graves in the region of the Municipal School and the altar at an elevated location above the cafes at the center of the village), testify how deep are the roots of this village. Homeric authentic words like “nostos”, “linos”, “domi”, “doma”, “ornitha”, “aiga”, “rifi”, “rous” are used daily up to today by the residents of the village testifying the Greek character of this village many years ago.
Remnants of devastated settlements in the regions “Peratides-Dipotamia”, “Vrysi tis Zintilas”, “Aspri”, “Marathos” and elsewhere, testify the unceasing habitation of the region of the community.
Names like “Louvaras “(water place),” Vikla”(Observatory),” Klados tou Rousia”(from the Franc noble Bernard De Riosser, famous admiral of Carlotta, named by the Cypriots as” Nte Rousia”) and “Vasilias” in the middle of village, prove the life of village during the Franks dynasty in our island. According to the medieval chronicler Georgio Voustronio the village of Platanistasa was granted together with other villages in January 1474 to Georgios Kontarinis, Count of Giafas, that was a relative of the Queen of Cyprus, Aikaterini Kornaro.
In old maps the village of Platanistasa is marked as “Platanista” or “Piatanista”.
There are three versions for the name of the village Platanistasa:
First version:
From the tree “Platanos” – (plane tree). Platanistasa means a locality full of plane trees.
Second version:
The village took its name from the “Palace”, the rural palace of the Franc nobles and the Royal family that was found at the center of the current village in the region “Vasilias”. Platanistasa here means: The County found round the Palace. Palatistasa-Platanistasa.
Third version:
The third version is relative with the “horseshoe” shape of the village that looks like with “platana”. Platana is a metal having the shape of a horseshoe placed under the rear part of the “podines” mainly called “tsangaropodines”, local footwear of the residents of Pitsilia region in the old years.
Source: Communite Council of Platanistasa