The Malevizi area and particularly the area around Agios Myronas – Pirgoùs – Asites has been inhabited at least since the Neolitic era, as shown by the remains unearthed (Kostis Mastrogiannakis, 2021: Pirgoù through the centuries). Human installation in the area came about because of the favourable conditions that farming people met with, i.e. climate, soil etc. Their presence, in fact, seems to have been continuous, as, besides Neolithic finds, various Minoan remnants have been publicized by numerous scholars (op.cit.). The quarry on the SE fringes of the settlement, as well as the tunnels – galleries for water collection within the settlement, possibly date from Hellenistic or Roman times. At Pirgoù, Byzantine coins have also been found (op.cit.).
In Creto-Venetian times, both the sources and the remains testify that the general area was a very important vineland. The right altitude (300-500 m.), the soil and subsoil (marl-limestone and marl) which retain water within the bedrock, the climate and finally the terrain (facing NW, i.e. exposed to the beneficial ‘meltemia’ –Northern breezes of July – August) have been the formative conditions for the extensive growth of local viniculture. All the right conditions for the production of high quality wine-grapes combined with the exportation oriented industry, resulted in turning viniculture into the fundamental pillar of local economy in Creto-Venetian times. There are three grape-pressing basins next to the chapel of Ai-Giorgis Mesampelitis and a little further down two covered areas (wine fermentation? storage? or...?) show clearly that wine production was extensive. At Chrisopigi, two grape-pressing basins, two large collection vats and a beautiful maggana (stalk press), as well as the place-name “moschata” strengthen the above hypothesis.
Nowadays olive trees alternate with grapevines, and also some enormous trees here and there, like the giant eucalyptus as a great natural monument.
