Elassona

Elassona Ελασσόνα
Elassona
Location within the region
Coordinates:
Country	Greece
Administrative region	Thessaly
Regional unit	Larissa
Area
• Municipality	1,568.1 km2 (605.4 sq mi)
• Municipal unit	291.1 km2 (112.4 sq mi)
Highest elevation	311 m (1,020 ft)
Lowest elevation	300 m (1,000 ft)
Population (2001)
• Municipality	32,121
• Municipality density	20/km2 (53/sq mi)
• Municipal unit	11,044
• Municipal unit density	38/km2 (98/sq mi)
Community
• Population	7750
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	402 00
Area code(s)	2410
Vehicle registration	ΡΙ
Website	www.elassona.com.gr

View of Olympus from Elassona.

Elassona (Greek: Ελασσόνα; older form: Elasson Ἐλασσών) is a town and a municipality in the Larissa regional unit in Greece. During antiquity Elassona was called Oloosson - Ὀλοοσσών and was a town of the ancient "Perrhaebi", known today as Thessaly. It is situated at the foot of Mount Olympus. Elassona is bypassed by the GR-3 (Larissa - Kozani - Florina).

History

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Elassona was part of the Manastir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire as "Alasonya". Elassona joined Greece in 1912 during the Balkan Wars, when it was liberated from the Ottomans.

Municipality

The municipality Elassona was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 9 former municipalities, that became municipal units:

• Antichasia
• Elassona
• Karya
• Livadi
• Olympos
• Potamia
• Sarantaporo
• Tsaritsani
• Verdikousa

Subdivisions

The municipal unit of Elassona is divided into the following communities:

• Elassona (Elassona, Agioneri, Aetorrachi, Mikro Eleftherochori)
• Drymos
• Evangelismos
• Galanovrysi
• Kefalovryso
• Palaiokastro
• Stefanovouno (Stefanovouno, Lefki)
• Valanida (Valanida, Kleisoura)

Municipal changes

Until March 15, 2006, Tsaritsani was part of the municipality (now municipal unit) of Elassona and functioned as a municipal district. Under the law 3448/15-3-2006, Tsaritsani got separated from the municipality and declared a commune. The loss of its population and land leaves the remaining municipality with an adjusted 2001 census population of 12,056 and a land area of 291.097 km².

Province

The province of Elassona (Greek: Επαρχία Ελασσόνας) was one of the provinces of the Larissa Prefecture. It had the same territory as the present municipality. It was abolished in 2006.

Population

(Statistics, 1981-2011)

Year	Town	Community	Municipal unit	Municipality
1981	7,146	-	-	-
1991	7,225	-	15,637	-
2001	7,233	7,762	14,563	-
2011	7,338	7,750	11,044	32,121

Geography

Its geography includes farmlands in the valley areas, the mountains to the west and east and forests in the west and east as well as grasslands, ledges are to be founded in some areas and barren area in the higher elevations.

The rivers Elassonitis (or Elassonitikos) and Titarisio flow through Elassona and they both flow into the Pineios River, Thessaly's longest river. The river divides the town into two parts, the older city built on the Olympiotissa hill and is also Varosi or Varossi (Βαρόσι), and the new city on the right bank of the river. These two parts of the city are connected by four bridges, one of which is an ancient stone arch bridge. The other part is near the Kefalovrysi Lake.

Transportation

Elassona is linked with the old GR-3 and is bypassed to the east. Elassona is located 70 km southwest of Katerini, 38 km NNW of Larissa (old: about 50 km), 22 km NW of Tyrnavos (old: 30 km), east of Deskati and Grevena and 78 km ESE of Kozani.

External links

• Elassona.com.gr - Elassonas province (Greek)
• Elassona (municipality) on GTP Travel Pages
• Elassona (town) on GTP Travel Pages