Kokkinopilos is a mountainous village in the municipality of Elassona, in the Larissa region of Thessaly. It is built on the southwestern slopes of Mount Olympus, at an altitude of 1,250 meters. The village is 34 kilometers away from Elassona, and historically, its inhabitants had particularly strong ties with the villages on the Macedonian side of Olympus. It is one of the so-called “Vlach villages” of Olympus. According to local tradition, it was founded around the 12th century by Vlach farmers and shepherds, and its name is thought to have derived from the characteristic red clay soil of the area. The village features several watermills, lime kilns, and a windmill.
In 1821, Kokkinopilos was destroyed by Ottoman troops, and its population dispersed to various places. However, in 1832, a group of residents, led by the priest Ioannis Dambosis (or Papadopoulos), returned to their homes. During the later Ottoman period, Kokkinopilos became a large estate (chiflik) of Ottoman landowners, and during the same period, it suffered several destructions by Ottoman forces in the context of suppressing the Greek revolutions of 1854 and 1878. In the meantime, in October 1862, the village became the base of the German geographer Heinrich Barth, who explored Mount Olympus, reaching the summit of Prophet Elias. Kokkinopilos was liberated, along with the rest of the Elassona region, during the Balkan Wars, specifically on October 8, 1912. During the occupation in World War II, the village was burned by German troops in April 1943.
