NAVARINO, a town of Greece in the Morea, stands at the south end of a bay of the same name, 136 miles S.W. of Athens, and 92 S. by W. of Patras; N. Lat. 36. 54, E. Long. 21. 41. It consists of a citadel, situated on a high rock, and a lower town; the whole being surrounded by walls, but having no ditch. The streets are narrow, steep, and dirty, and the houses meanly and irregularly built, many of them being also in a ruinous condition. Those near the sea, however, are of a somewhat better sort. The town contains the remains of an old aqueduct and some ancient marble pillars, which now adorn the front of the principal mosque. The Bay of Navarino forms one of the best harbours in Greece. It is about 4 miles in length by 2 in breadth, and the depth varies from 12 to 26 fathoms. It is protected towards the W. by the long and narrow island of Sphagia (anciently Sphacteria), to the S.E. of which lies the entrance, which is nearly a mile wide. The ancient town of Pylos stood at the northern end of the bay; and there was formerly a navigable channel to the north of the island, though narrower than that to the south; but it is now so shallow as not to admit of the passage of ships. In the sixth century a colony of the Avars settled here, from whom probably the place got the name of Avarino, which has been changed, like many other modern names in Greece, by prefixing the terminal letter of the accusative of the article. Navarino is famous in modern history for the victory gained here over the Turkish and Egyptian fleets by those of Great Britain, France, and Russia, October 20, 1827. This engagement was occasioned by the breach of an armistice on the part of the Turks, and the result was the destruction of nearly the whole Ottoman fleet, and the establishment of the independence of the Greeks. The population of the town at present does not exceed 2000.