Karditsa ( ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. It is the largest city and the capital of the Karditsa regional unit. According to the 2021 census, the municipality of Karditsa has a population of 55,979, of whom 40,272 live within the city limits of Karditsa.
Karditsa has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa). Karditsa experiences hot, dry summers and cool winters with substantial precipitation.
During the period of Ottoman rule in Thessaly, the main settlement in the location of modern Karditsa was called Sotira. In 1810, the English traveler William Martin Leake mentioned a sprawling village named KardhÃÂtza, consisting of between 500-600 houses, of which the majority of the inhabitants were Turkish.
Karditsa was incorporated as a new city in 1882, the year after its liberation from the Ottoman Empire (1881).
During World War II, the resistance in Thessaly was fought primarily by the ELAS. On March 12, 1943 Karditsa was liberated temporarily by ELAS after the Italian capitulation.
In September 2020, the city was badly hit from catastrophic floods that resulted in 4 deaths.
The municipality Karditsa was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 5 former municipalities, that became municipal units:
The municipality has an area of 647.3878 km<sup>2</sup>, the municipal unit 110.086 km<sup>2</sup>. Formerly, Karditsa had a neighbourhood known as Vlachomachalas, which was populated by Vlachs (Aromanians).
The municipal unit of Karditsa is divided into six parts (communities):
Veterinary Medicine Department of the University of Thessaly which is one of only two Veterinary departments in Greece and three other university departments of the University of Thessaly based in the city.
Karditsa is served by trains on the Palaiofarsalos-Kalambaka line, with connections to both Athens and Thessaloniki.
Football clubs include Anagennisi Karditsa, ASK Karditsa, AO Karditsa, Asteras Karditsas () and Elpides Karditsas. SPA Karditsa () is a volleyball club.