The Family

The Moatsou family has Venetian roots and is one of those who had settled in Crete since the 13th century. From the era of Venetian domination to this day, family members have excelled in science, literature, and politics, thus playing an important role in the development of the place. 
The start of construction in the Pigi estate is lost in the depths of time, but there are historical references to the Moatsos house from the beginning of the 20th century with reference to Nikolaos Askoutsis, whose sister married Moatsos.
Nikolaos Askoutsis (1888 or 1892) originated from the neighboring village of Melidoni. He was a lawyer and initially worked as a criminologist in Rethymno. In 1905 he participated in the Therisos Movement alongside Eleftherios Venizelos (who would then become the prime minister of Greece). In 1917 he was appointed governor of Lamia, then governor of the county of Rethymnon and later of Attica. He was elected congressman in four electoral meetings, from 1923 to 1933, with the Liberal Party, while in 1930-1932, he was minister-general governor of Crete in the Venizelos government. During the German occupation, he participated in the Resistance and was arrested by the Nazis in 1941 in the Battle of Crete, when he fled to the Monastery of Arkadi. In 1944 he led the formation of the Political Committee of National Liberation (PCNL), a political body of national unity aimed at coordinating the liberation. At the PCNL, known as the Government of the Mountain, led by professor Alexandros Svolos, Nikolaos Askoutsis was appointed Secretary of Communications.
Nikolaos Askoutsis lost his right hand in childhood after falling from a tree. The elders of Pigi remember him proudly riding his horse in the village and dismissing the pity from his compatriots.
In 1919 Eleftherios Venizelos was hosted in the house of Moatsos in Pigi. Thanks to Nikolaos Askoutsis, roads and public buildings such as the prison (today Archaeological Museum), the Customs Office and the House of Education of Males (nowadays 1st General Lyceum) were constructed in Rethymno,
Pigi was at the heart of the events of the Second World War as there was an airport at a short distance, which was a strategic target for the Germans during the Battle of Crete. During the occupation, the Moatsou house was commandeered by the Nazis and converted to Kommandatur, a German garrison. With the withdrawal of the Germans from Crete in October 1944, the forces of ELAS descended from mount Psiloritis and Mylopotamos and camped at the outskirts of Pigi. The German forces destroyed all the military facilities, bridges and the airport of Pigi upon leaving.

The Village

• The ancient settlement Ario was 200 meters northwest of the present settlement but was destroyed by an earthquake in the 5th century AD. It was rebuilt in the current position of Pigi.
• A place named Pigi is mentioned for the first time in a text by St. John Xenos (970-1027 AD) during the 2nd Byzantine period.
• Owing to the fertile land and natural water sources, during the Venetian establishment in the area, Pigi developed and, in 1583, numbered 275 inhabitants.
• During the Ottoman establishment on the island (1669-1898), the village was ranked among the preferential "vassal" villages that provided income from cultivating olive trees to maintain sanctuaries.
• From the middle of the 19th century, and especially after the blasting of the neighboring monastery of Arkadi, the intensified revolution activities of the habitants of Pigi resulted in bloodshed. During the autonomy of Crete (1898), the State of Crete officially declared Pigi as a destroyed village, and at the dawn of the 20th century, Pigi entered a phase of reconstruction.
• Pigi was at the heart of events of the Second World War as it had an airport which became a strategic target for German attacks during the Battle of Crete.
• Today, Pigi numbers about 300 inhabitants, doubling over the summer months.