Giorgos Chatziparaschos, the craftsman whose name became inseparable from handmade filo and the syrupy sweets of Rethymn...

Giorgos Chatziparaschos, the craftsman whose name became inseparable from handmade filo and the syrupy sweets of Rethymno, has died at the age of 93. He was one of the last people in Greece still making filo entirely by hand, a technique that drew journalists from across the country and abroad to his workshop in the old town. He started his family business in 1958 at Emmanouil Vernardou 30, in Rethymno's historic center, and kept at it for decades. His baklava and kataifi earned a reputation that stretched well beyond Crete, pulling in Greek and foreign visitors who came not just to eat but to watch the process itself. Making filo by hand takes patience, precision, and years of practice, and he had all three. Dozens of journalists visited his workshop over the years, trying to learn the technique and document it before it disappeared. The address became a landmark in its own right, a place where people lined up to taste the sweets and watch the sheets of dough stretch thin under skilled hands. His funeral will be held Monday at 12:00 noon at the Church of Kyria ton Angelon, known as Mikri Panagia, in Rethymno. With his passing, a living connection to one of the oldest pastry traditions in Greece is gone. Rethymno loses not just a craftsman, but the man who made hand-rolled filo a signature of the city. #Rethymno #Crete #Greece