Toroni is an ancient Greek city and a former municipality in the southwest edge of Sithonia peninsula in Chalkidiki, Greece. The ancient city was founded by Chalkidian settlers probably during the 8th century BC. Its strategic location and rich resources developed Toroni into one of the most significant cities in Chalkidiki, giving its name to the gulf that forms between Pallene and Sithonia peninsulas. After 348, and the abolition of the league by Phillip, Toroni became part of Macedon. In 168 the Romans invaded and the city decayed, but did not cease to exist, as indicated by the harbour fort, Lecythus, which was rebuilt during the Byzantine era. It is also a titular see in the Roman Catholic Church.[5] The site continued to be occupied up to the 17th century, when the population abandoned the old city and moved to the modern town of Toroni, about one km north of the ancient city. Its strong walls and other buildings were destroyed in 1903, when the Ottomans used the city's granite stones to cover some central roads of Constantinople and Thessaloniki.

Topography, Archaeological elements

Traces of prehistoric settlements of the 3rd century BC and many other ancient remains, including early Christian and Byzantine temples, and castles are evidence that the area was inhabited continuously from the Neolithic era. Surveys were conducted by the XVI Ephorate of Classical Antiquities in 1975. The harbour port, Lecythus (Λήκυθος), is being refurbished. The ancient city extends in three main areas: the Acropolis located to the rocky and extremely bluff hill between Porto Koufo and Lecythus, which was connected with the city via long walls; the main ancient city, in the plateau southwest of acropolis up to the coast, that includes Lecythus fort; and the Proasteion (suburb) of the city, in today's narrow, but in antiquity much broader neck of land that connects Lecythus and the city.

In the Acropolis and the main city, parts of the fortification are clearly visible along with dispread stone blocks, ancient pantiles and broken pottery which are found everywhere. Unfortunately, most of the city's buildings were destroyed in the beginning of the 20th century, when the Ottoman authorities hired an Italian engineer in order to collect the stone blocks to use them as paving in roads. The Lecythus fort, next to the harbour, was rebuilt during the Byzantine era, along with cinsterns and a small early Christian temple.