VRBENI

Vrbeni (Dolno Vrbeni) was forcibly renamed by the Greek government to Itea. It is about 12 kilometres northeast of Lerin on the rich Pelagonia valley in the Lerin plain. It lies at 21 degrees 31 minutes longitude and 40 degrees 50 minutes latitude and 615 metres above sea level. Its has an area of about 9 kilometres squared.

The village borders on the following: southwest with Petorak, to the west with P'pzhani, to the northwest with Sakulevo and to the east with Ovoshtareni and to the southeast with Neokazi.

Before the start of the Greek Civil War there were about 890 residents in the village of Macedonian background. The residents were employed in agriculture, raising livestock and other essential occupations.

During the Greek Civil War in 1946-49 the residents did not show a great level of activism because they did not have a battle tradition and the geographic position of the village did not enable participation. In the organization of NOF and the armed forces of DAG only two people took part and, unfortunately, both died

They were:

1. Domazetov Boris
2. Sarafi R Lazhenka

After the Civil War and the forced emigration from the village to Dolno Vrbeni, the number of residents fell. In the official census in Greece in 1991 it was recorded that there were 698 residents in the village.

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