Velestino Βελεστίνο |
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Coordinates: 39°22.9′N 22°44.7′E / 39.3817°N 22.7450°ECoordinates: 39°22.9′N 22°44.7′E / 39.3817°N 22.7450°E | |
Country | Greece |
Administrative region | Thessaly |
Regional unit | Magnesia |
Municipality | Rigas Feraios |
Municipal unit | Feres |
Elevation | 120 m (390 ft) |
Community | |
• Population | 3,403 (2011) |
Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
• Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
Postal code | 37 500 |
Area code(s) | 24250 |
Velestino (Greek: Βελεστίνο) is a town in the Magnesia regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality Rigas Feraios. It is situated at 120 metres (390 ft) elevation on a hillside, at the southeastern end of the Thessalian Plain. It is 17 km (11 mi) west of Volos and 40 km southeast of Larissa. Velestino has a train station on the local line from Larissa to Volos. The Motorway 1 (Athens - Larissa - Thessaloniki) passes east of the town. The Greek writer and revolutionary Rigas Feraios was born in Velestino in 1757.
Velestino is built on ancient Pherae.
Under the Ottoman Empire, Velestino was called Velestin and was the seat of a kaza within the Sanjak of Tirhala.
With the rest of Thessaly, Velestino was ceded to Greece in 1881 by the Treaty of Berlin.
The Battle of Velestino was fought here during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897.