Lakki Λακκί | |
|---|---|
Settlement | |
 The school of Lakki | |
  Lakki | |
| Coordinates:37°07′54″N26°51′07″E / 37.13167°N 26.85194°E /37.13167; 26.85194 | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | South Aegean |
| Regional unit | Kalymnos |
| Municipality | Leros |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Total | 2,093 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Lakki (Greek:Λακκί), known asPortolago (Greek:Πόρτο Λάγο) until 1947, is a community on the Greek island ofLeros, in theDodecanese, at the head of Lakki Bay. The population was 2,093 at the 2021 census.[1]
The area was built up as the main base of theItalian Royal Navy in the Dodecanese starting in 1923. The town of Portolago was founded in the 1930s, under Italian rule, as a newmodel town, most of whose inhabitants were from the Italian military. After Leros wastransferred to Greece in 1947, it was renamed Lakki.
During Ottoman times, the area was known as Lakki and had just a few fishing huts. Following theItalo-Turkish War in 1912, the Dodecanese becamepart of Italy. As one of the largest bays in the Aegean, the Italians saw its potential as a naval base to expand their military presence in the eastern Mediterranean. In the 1920s and 30s, an entire town was built from scratch by the architectsArmando Bernabiti andRodolfo Petracco. The resulting town was named Portolago, allegedly afterMario Lago, the Governor of the Italian colony from 1922 to 1936, although some sources say the Italians had already named the bay Portolago due to its resemblance to a lake and the arrival of a Governor called Lago was purely a coincidence. Etymologically the toponym is in fact derived from the wordAncient Greekλάκκος (lắkkos) which meant generally "a pond"[2] evidently referring to the natural shape of the harbour, from which derived the ancient Λακκίον (Lakkíon) and, after theapocope, the nowadays Greek toponym, already anchored semantically at the same meaning.
Portolago has been described as "the only truerationalist town outside of Italy."[3]
The buildings include:[3]
Portolago was built up as the main base of theItalian Royal Navy in the Dodecanese starting in 1923, as the harbor ofRhodes was too small. The bay is deep, and about 3.5 km long and over 1 km wide, making it a suitable location for anaval base, in fact one of the best in the eastern Mediterranean. Under Italian rule, Portolago Bay (as it was then called) was heavily fortified. There was adouble boom across the narrow entrance, and several batteries of guns covering it.[4]
The naval base included multiple buildings and naval installations. There was no air strip, but there was aseaplane ramp. The island garrison included about 6500 men. It was thehome port for twodestroyers, two smalltorpedo boats, and foursubmarines.[4]
