Arta Prefecture

Arta (Άρτα) is one of the prefectures of Greece. It is part of the Epirus periphery. Its capital is the city of Arta. It is located north of the Ambracian Gulf. Mountains surround the northeast with only one road linking into the Pineios valley and Thessaly, and low-land agricultural plains to its west. It is bounded by the prefectures of Preveza in the west, Ioannina to the north, Trikala in the east, Karditsa to the east and Aetolia-Acarnania to the south. The eastern boundary is formed by the Acheloos River and the western boundary up to near GR-5/GR-21 jct is the Louros River.

Much of the population lives in the west, in the Arachthos valley, the south and east of Arta, further southeast, the Athamanian mountains and the southeast with a few parts of the north are the least populated.

Geography

 * Acheloos River
 * Arachthos River
 * Athamanian Mountains, situated in the northeast and is part of the Pindus ranges.
 * Louros River.

The famous landmark which is over the Arachthos river is Arta's Old Bridge on its west side. The second famous is the ancient buildings. The downtown to its north is surrounded by a state highway.

History
The area around Arta joined with the rest of Greece in the 1880s and was the only part of Epirus that join the rest of Greece along with Thessaly.

Since 1996 or 1997 the bypass of Arta (GR-5) which will become Ionia Odos linking Albania and Athens via Patras opened. Construction began in 1995. It runs in much of the prefecture.

Transport

 * Greek National Road 5/E55, S, Cen., W
 * Greek National Road 21, W
 * Greek National Road 30, Cen., E

Television

 * Art TV

Municipalities and communities
See also: List of settlements in the Arta prefecture

Sporting teams

 * Anagennisi Artas

People

 * Pyrrhus (318 BC-272 BC) general and king of Epirus
 * Epicrates of Ambracia, 4th BC comic poet
 * Silanus of Ambracia
 * Epigonus of Ambracia 6th-5th BC musician
 * Georgios Karaiskakis Years of service 1796 - 1827 Rank - General, Battles/wars Greek War of Independence
 * Maximus the Greek (c. 1475-1556) publicist, writer, scholar, humanist and translator
 * Napoleon Zervas (1891-1957)
 * Theodoros Tzinis
 * Nikolaos Skoufas
 * Yannis Makriyannis
 * Kostas Kristallis poet
 * Yiannis Moralis (1916) painter
 * Antonios Nikopolidis (1971) footballer
 * Yannis Anastasiou (1973) footballer
 * Nikos Rizos (1924 - April 20, 1999), actor