The history of the small village Ligiades in the Mitseliki mountains goes far back. It is first mentioned in an official document of 1430. This document includes the agreement between the council of wealthy people of Ioannina and the Ottoman Pasha, to give him the power over the city of Ioannina. He was also given consent to build the walls of the Castro, in return he wouldn’t destroy the city. The first inhabited part of Ligiades is called Χώρα, which lies a little further behind today’s village. Nowadays a mountaineer’s hut is located there, which was built in the 19th century. The territory where Ligiades is today was first called ´Εξωxώρα, the outside village. Not much is left of the former settlement; only some ruins and the Αγία Παρασκευή church. Additionally, a spring and a cistern can be found, where monks used to have a small water mill. The old village was intact until 1670, as can be read in the travel diary of the Turk Elia Tsembilis. However, not many people settled down in the village since the stony and barren land around the village was completely useless for any kind of agriculture. It could only be used as a grazing area for sheep and goats. The people who did settle down barely survived by growing a few crops.
For years the villagers were in a litigation with the Bishop of the area, who claimed the land around Μουτσάδες for a monastery. Lack of food remained a constant problem for the people in the village, so that many inhabitants emigrated to countries such as Rumania. Those who stayed in the village tried their luck as lumberjacks – Ioannina had a constant demand for wood. Originally, as can be read in older sources, the hillside of the Mitseliki mountains was full of trees and plants. However, Ali Pasha (1740-1822) had burnt down most of the forests to prevent the bandits, who were threatening the Turkish Castro, from hiding in the woods. In exchange for wood of high quality, the villagers received shoes, salt, pepper or olive oil from the wealthy people, who lived in the Castro in Ioannina. These goods were not available in the village, but were needed to conserve food. During summer, the people of Ligiades delivered snow and ice to Ioannina in leather bags in the mornings, which had been stored in caves in spring. In Ioannina it was needed for the hospital or for the cooling of lemonade for Ali Pasha.
The life on the mountain was marked by hunger, hardship and struggle. Disaster was always looming – such as strong snowfall, extreme cold or the plague, which often depopulated the village. But every time the village recovered. Even a monastery was built, which existed until 1912 and was said to possess many important scriptures, none of which survived. During the reign of Ali Pasha, the village also had to endure many raids and acts of violence, when Hursuit Pasha, assigned by the Sultan of Konstantinopel to topple Ali Pasha, beleaguered the Castro of Ioannina.
Even after the end of Turkish rule (1821), the situation in Ligiades did not improve. Nevertheless, the population grew and in 1872 Ligiades even opened a school. The first teacher was Mr. A. Soulis, who taught the children in only one classroom. In order to be able to pay for the school and also the church, which was rebuilt at the same time, the community leased a huge amount of grazing area to the wealthy cheese merchant D. Alles. He paid 100 gold lira. With the support of many hours of voluntary work these buildings were built. Gradually, the village grew and became the Κεφαλοxώρι, the main village, in the region.
But due to the growth of the population the village became too small and in 1909 the ground for a new village was bought – Kardnies, a place with many walnut trees – and many villagers moved there.
During the Balcan wars two companies of the Turkish army were stationed in Ligiades. They looted the belongings of the Sifakas family and destroyed their house, because Mr Sifakas had been fighting against the Turks, and they even destroyed the school archive, which had been hidden in a grave by the teacher.
Only in 1913 Ioannina was freed from the Turks. In 1919 Ligiades was acknowledged as an autonomous commune. 1923 was the founding year of the local agricultural credit union. In 1931 the construction of a road to connect Ligiades with Ioannina was started. The undertaking was, however, stopped 4 km in front of Ligiades because a new government in Athens stopped providing money for the cause.
On the 28th of October the fascist Italy attacked Greece. Ligiades also sent fifteen recruits to the front. All of them survived and came back healthy, besides Panagiotis Roussikas, who was wounded. With the Greek capitulation a time of Italian-German oppression and exploitation started. Every time a German or Italian came into the village, he would take fresh eggs, calf, frogs’ legs and “snaps” (Ouzo).
Due to the growing partisan activity in the north of Greece, the situation became more strained and the use of guns more regular. One week before the massacre of 1943, the 60 year old Eleni Lappa, on her way to the village with firewood in her arms, was shot and killed out of nowhere. A foreboding of horrendous things about to happen.