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Rethymno, a city of approximately 30.000 people, is the capital of the prefecture of the same name in the island of Crete. It was built in antiquity, even though it has never been a big center. It was however strong enough to publish its own coins. One of these coins is today depicted as the crest of the town.

Rethymno started growing again when the Venetian conquerors of the island wanted to have an intermediate commercial station between Heraklion and Chania. Today's old town (palia poli) is almost entirely built by Venetians.

It has a Venetian castle called the Fortetza which is the one of the best standing castles in Greece. Other monuments include the Neratze mosque (St. Katherine's catholic church), the Great Gate (megali porta, Porta Guerra), the Piazza Rimondi (Rimmondi square) etc.

Today its main income is tourism, and it also is the base of the Philosophical school of the University of Crete. The countryside of the prefecture is also based economically on agriculture and herding. The village of Anogia is reported to have the highest fertility rate of the EU. Two other notable towns in the Rethymno prefecture are Spili and Agia Galini .