The Mani is split between the Messinian side and the Laconian side. Oitylo, and the studios, sit on the Laconian one.
A region that held out
Through four centuries of Turkish occupation the Mani is held to be one of the very few parts of Greece that was never taken. The stone tower houses you see in every village were not built for the view.
Where the name comes from
The region takes its name from the castle of Maina, put up in the thirteenth century by William de Villehardouin, who also built the castles at Monemvasia and Mystras.
That stubbornness is still the first thing people tell you about the place, and it explains a good deal about how it looks.
