The small village of Skamnaki is built at an altitude of 230 metres, on the road Gythio-Areopolis. Specifically, it is 10 km from Gythio and has about 70 permanent residents. The village owes its name to its location, as, from afar, it looks like a seat. The first inhabitants of the village were fugitives from the area of Sparta, who, in 1750, took refuge in Skamnaki to avoid persecution by the Turks. It seems that the towers were built then. In fact, in one of them, there is a stone of the outer gate where the date 1769 is written.
The village houses are spread on a plateau, which emerges from the mountain Plagiada (part of the Taygetos mountain range). In the centre of the green village, the church of the Assumption of the Virgin dominates the area, while visitors can also see the church of the Savior. It is a one-room, vaulted church of the post-Byzantine period (18th-19th century). It has a three-sided outer arch and a built-in bell tower above the door on the north side. Inside the church, there are frescoes of folk style of the last post-Byzantine years.
South of Mount Plagiada, the small church of Prophet Elias stands at the top of the hill. It is a stone, simple temple from where the visitor has a panoramic view of the village and the Laconian Gulf. Finally, the church of Agios Dimitrios (building of 1800) faces south and not east, as usual.
