KEFALONIA: Kefalonia (mod. Gr. Κεφαλονιά anc. Gr. Κεφαλληνία, Ital. Cefalonia), the most westerly island of Greece, lies in the Ionian Sea, in the channel leading into the Gulf of Patras, between Lefkada to the north, Ithaki to the east and Zakynthos to the south. With its ca. 780 square kilometres, the island is the largest of the Eptanissos, the Seven Islands, as they were known under 19th-century British rule. 

Turquoise seas, lush green vegetation, wild, sheer mountain scenery and a fascinating variegated geological profile have given Kefalonia a special atmosphere and beauty. 

Broad sandy beaches, small coves, steep cliffs and coats, steppe-like plains, fertile valleys, dense black forests of fir, a unique complex of caves and the highest mountain in the Ionian Islands, 1628m Aetos, are the most striking features of the island. 

Kefalonia is characterized by the creative forces of nature and a three thousand years of cultural history.

Because of its strategic position in terms of military geography, the island was a frequent pawn in the struggle between various Mediterranean powers. From antiquity until the late 19th century, various European powers appreciated and thus occupied the islands: the Romans, Normans, Venetians, Ottomans, Russians, French, British, and, in World War II, Mussolini’s Italians followed by Hitler’s Wehrmacht laid claim to this paradisiacal island. 

Only in 1864 did the “Septinsular Republic”, founded in 1825, join the modern Greek state, but only after World War II did the island enter a phase of geopolitical peace and stability. 

In 1953, a further devastating catastrophe, of a type that affects the Ionian Islands, located on the edge of the Eurasian continental shelf, from time to time. A massive earthquake destroyed nearly 90 per cent of buildings in the island, roads disappeared, houses lay in ruins. Hole settlements were levelled. The entire island was lifted upward by about 40 cm. Many of the survivors left the island. 

This is only one, so far the last, of four major earthquakes that affected Kefalonia in modern times (1766, 1867, 1910, 1953). 

The architecture, once predominantly Venetian in style, was adjusted to modern conditions; regulations for earthquake protection have ultimate priority, as the quakes of the last half century show. Kefalonia`s houses are built earthquake- safe. After the almost panic emigration of the 1950s, a movement of returning to the island is underway since the 1990s. 

In 2008, the economic magazine Forbes ranked Kefalonia as the fourth most idyllic places in Europe, rich in natural beauty and with the qualities of relaxed and comfortable life 

The island of Kefalonia, a place of special attraction and magic. 

New research by the ancient historian Dr Heinz Warnecke throws a different light on the island. For the first time, his recent work Homers Wilder Westen convincingly interprets the geography of Homer’s Iliad and thus proves Kefalonia to be the home of Odysseus, ancient Ithaca, an idea of which the Kefalonians have long been convinced. 

Kefalonia offers many work opportunities based on nature and tourism. For example, the island is one the main producers of organic farmed fish globally.