After the Fourth Crusade (1204), the area passed under the control of the Frankish Kingdom of Thessalonica, but in 1218 it was recovered by the Despotate of Epirus. Epirote rule continued until it was occupied by the Empire of Nicaea (and after 1261 by the restored Byzantine Empire) following the Battle of Pelagonia, but it probably was more often under the control or influence of the autonomous Greek rulers of Neopatras. When the Catalans occupied Neopatras in 1319, in 1322 the "castrum Phtelei" was taken over by the Republic of Venice, with the agreement of the Byzantines and the inhabitants. The Republic installed a rector (governor) and a castellan, and administered the fortress as part of its colony of Negroponte. In 1350 it was plundered by the Catalans and their Albanian allies, but remained in Venetian hands as an isolated outpost on the mainland until 1470, when it was surrendered to the Ottoman Empire following the loss of Negroponte. Its inhabitants were deported to . Parts of the ruined medieval fortress survive to this day, southwest of Pigadi: a square donjon, a cistern, foundations of houses and a town wall, and the so-called "Alatopyrgos" ("salt tower"), a watchtower on the coast.