The Kastraki peninsula is located between the Gulf of Tolo and Plaka beach at Derpano. The steep 350m long and 140m wide rock is surrounding the one side by the waters of the Argolic Gulf and gently slopes down to join the mainland to the North West. The site was identified with the Homeric Asine, the city that mentioned in the second rhapsody of the Iliad which allied with Diomedes, the king of Argos, against Troy.
The site was excavated in the 1920s by the Swedish archaeological expedition under the supervision of Axel Persson and Otto Frodin with the participation of the successor of the Swedish throne, Gustav Adolf VI. In this location the ‘Lower City’ was revealed, in which dense layers of habitation from various periods were uncovered. Remains of a domestic, ritual and funereal nature have been excavated at the top of the hill (the citadel), as well as at surrounding sites on the level land to the east and on Barbouna Hill, which is opposite and to the northwest.
The area was already inhabited by the time of the Proto-Helladic (3.200/3.000-2.000 BC) period in the 3rd millennium BC. The settlements of the Middle Helladic (2.000-1.600 B.C.), the Mycenaean (1.600-1.100 BC) and the Geometric (1.050-700 BC) periods are also important. In around 700 BC Asine was attacked by neighboring city of Argos, which led the residents to flee and settle in the area of modern Koroni. From then on, Asine went into decline, only to flourish again at the end of the 4th century BC. It was at that time that the impressive walls that surround the hill were built, considered as work of Dimitrios Poliorketes (337 - 283 ΒC).
The advantages of its position, its natural fortification, its vicinity to the sea and the fact that it was sheltered from the wind would motivate settlement on the hill during the Late Christian period, as well. The strategic importance of the location of Asine is also evidenced in modern history, with the last example being the installation of Italian troops during World War II (1940-1945) when many ancient monuments were destroyed.
The present condition of the site is due to the work of the project “Asine-Acropolis of Ancient Asine Reformation of the Kastraki Archaeological Site”, founded by the B.P. “Western Greece - Peloponnese - Ionian Islands 2007-2013” wich completed in 2015.