Ligortynos is the first small village you come across as you descend towards the Asterousia, before Tefeli. It is on the northwest slope of the hill with a nice view over Mesara plain.
The name Ligortynos is pre-Hellenic. Indeed, there are findings from the Late Minoan Period at the Louvre attesting to that. Present day inhabitants originate from Anogeia, Mylopotamos (as well as Plakiotissa) and from Asia Minor (Caesarea [present-day Kayseri], the Black Sea shores, and Iconium [present-day Konya]), the latter arriving in 1923. The new settlers soon adapted to the language and cultural life of this land and were assimilated by the native population.
People here cultivate vines and olive trees, cereals and tobacco. In the village there is also a cheese-making cottage industry. In the past there used to be pottery works.
To the south of the hamlet there are ruins of a decorated church (Holy Trinity – Agia Trias) dating to Byzantine times. The central church is dedicated to St. Charalambos. The local Cultural Association is active and has maintained village traditions with events, appropriate aesthetic interventions (paved lanes) and highlighted monuments, such as the old aqueduct.
