Many of the houses are roofless and untenanted; for, after five centuries of prosperity under Venetian or Hungarian rule, an outbreak of plague in 1456 swept away the majority of the townsfolk, and ruined the survivors.
The new castle, an uninteresting building, was erected in 1724 by the earl of Fife, and though untenanted is maintained in repair.
There was an almost entire cessation of building, and a large number of houses in the chief cities remained untenanted, the occupants moving to lodgings and more than one family living in a single house.