Picturesque Magganiako is 32 km from Kalamata and just 10 km from Androusa. It is built at an altitude of 390 meters and has about 100 permanent residents. All the houses are constructed entirely of stone, bearing witnesses to the tradition and history of the village. The village has existed at least since the years of Venetian rule and its older name was Magkaniako. Its first official name is in the Grimani census lists of 1700.
There are two versions of the origin of the name. According to the first version, the name comes from the chemical element manganese, a previously exiled metal to the area. In fact, at Metalotripa (1500 meters south of the village), there are still small galleries from which the metal was mined. According to the second version, the village's name comes from the manganese, the manual or animal-powered machine for pumping water from the well or extracting minerals from galleries. To this day, such a machine survives in the village.
At Magganiakos, the visitors can wander the alleys with the traditional houses and the Primary School stone building or enjoy their coffee at the only village cafe, under the shade of a wild mulberry. According to residents, the tree is at least 300 years old. At the village, entrance is the church of Agios Dimitrios, which celebrates on October 26th. The stone church dates back to 1890 and is surrounded by tall trees.
At the village, the visitors can still see the ruined Frankish tower known as "Melipyrgos", as well as the ruins of the Medieval castle at the top of Paliokastro hill. At a lower altitude than the castle and around the village, the ruins of old settlements stand. Finally, a short distance from Magganiakos is the Andromonastiro, the most important Monastic complex of Messinia and one of the most important in the Peloponnese.
