Corfu

01

Corfu is the only part of Greece never occupied by the Ottoman Empire. The Venetian Serenissima defended the island successfully in 1571, 1573, and 1716. This single fact explains why Corfu's culture, cuisine, and architecture are unlike anywhere else in Greece.

02

The Corfu Old Town became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007 — the only Greek island capital to receive this designation. The inscription covers both the Old Fortress (15th century Venetian) and the New Fortress (16th century), the complete urban fabric of the Campiello quarter, and the Liston arcades.

03

Achilleion Palace has hosted two of the most significant diplomatic events of the 20th century: Kaiser Wilhelm II used it as his personal summer headquarters from 1907 to 1914, and the 1994 EU Corfu Summit — which opened accession negotiations with Austria, Finland, Norway, and Sweden — took place in its state rooms.

04

The kumquat is the only citrus fruit cultivated in Europe exclusively on Corfu. Introduced by the British during their protectorate (1815–1864), the fruit grows nowhere else on the continent. The island produces kumquat liqueur, marmalade, chocolates, and sauces from its annual harvest.

05

The Rothschild estate at Kanonas on the northeast coast occupies two headlands — Kanonas and Strongilo — purchased by Lord Rothschild in the 1960s after he saw the ruined farmhouse while sailing past. The estate, designed with pebble-paved courtyards by the Greek artist Nikos Ghikas, has never been commercially available.

06

Corfu has produced the only Greek Nobel Prize winner in literature. The poet Dionysios Solomos — author of 'Hymn to Liberty', which became the Greek national anthem — was born on Zakynthos but spent his productive life and died in Corfu. His house in the Old Town is now a museum.

07

The Corfu Philharmonic Society, founded in 1840, is the oldest philharmonic orchestra in Greece. Corfu has two competing philharmonic societies (a result of rival political factions in the 19th century) that both perform free outdoor concerts in the Spianada throughout summer.

08

Gerald Durrell's memoir 'My Family and Other Animals' (1956) — set in pre-war Corfu — is among the most widely read British travel books of the 20th century. The family house at Kalami on the northeast coast remains as Durrell described it. The book created a generation of British affection for the island that has never diminished.

09

Corfu cricket is a direct legacy of British rule (1815–1864). The only place in Greece where cricket is played, matches are still held on the Spianada esplanade in Corfu Town throughout summer — on the same ground where British garrison teams first played in the 1820s.

10

The Ionian Islands (including Corfu) were under British Protectorate control from 1815 to 1864 — half a century after the rest of Greece gained independence from the Ottomans in 1821. The streets, legal system, architecture, and cultural calendar of Corfu bear British traces as distinctly as Venetian ones.