The importance of the region and even more of the town is shown by the fact that after the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire in 1204, Arta became the capital of the newly established Despotate of Epirus, which together with the Empire of Nicaea and the Empire of Trebizond shared the territories of the Byzantine Empire. Initially it contained the lands of Epirus and Aetoloakarnania, but quickly expanded to the Ionian Islands as well as important parts of Albania, Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace.

Through this route the visitor can see the magnificence of Byzantine Arta, a city that the Komnenidoukades made the center of their state. Byzantine temples of incomparable beauty and unrivaled architecture, the Byzantine Castle of Arta, are the ornaments of the city and an excellent opportunity to “travel” to that era.