At a distance of 28 kilometers from Konitsa we meet Pournia. There used to be three settlements, Staritsa, Selou, and Anargyroi. The village got its name from the first settlement, because of the wheat villages that spread around it. In 1928 it was renamed Pournia, because it was considered that the word Staritsiani was foreign and mainly Slavic.
The name Pournia was borrowed from the homonymous location, west of the village, and means a place with many koromilia, which in the village are called pournies. It is not known when Pournia was first founded. But no one doubts that it is the birth of another village, which was called “Trapia” (from the word lightning). This was built on the site of today’s Trapia. The inhabitants believe that today’s Pourniotes are descendants of the Arian people. Trapia was one of the largest villages of that period, with 300 families and 1,200 inhabitants, who were engaged in animal husbandry and construction.
However, the plague (14th – 16th century) forced them to move, with the result that the village was deserted. Today, the residents of Pournia are retired and loggers in the forest cooperative.
