The most important factor for Cephalonia  seems to have been the construction of the new fortress of Asso  requested by the Civic Council  in an embassy sent to the Senate  in 1586. Located 15 miles from the fortress of Argostoli  the function of the new building seems glaringly obvious. Asso was to serve as a deposit for equipment, weapons, and munitions, and was a concentration site for the military forces. The civilian population of Argostoli, the capital of the island, would instead gather at San Giorgio, which would be used as a centre for a surveillance detachment for these port fortifications. The erection of the walled enclosure of Asso was connected to a special inhabited settlement program. A Senate decree from 1599 mentioned 'concession of lands in the fortress itself... since on this depends the building and conveyance into it' of the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, 'it being our intention to consolidate them in the desire to be able to move into that secure enclosure with their own possessions'.¹

Footnotes:
1 'concessione de terreni dentro la medesima fortezza... poiché da questo depende la fabrica et riduttione in essa... essendo nostra intentione di consolidarli nel desiderio di potersi in quel sicuro ricetto ridurre con le proprie sostanze'