Corfu (Kérkyra), unlike the rest of Greece, never fell under the Ottoman rule. Due to the successive dominations of the Venetians, the French and the British over the centuries, the island has primarily become part of the Western rather the Levantine world.

Their culture wielded strong influence in the city: it was here that the first Greek University (the Ionian Academy), the first Philharmonic Orchestra and the First School of Fine Arts were founded. The sea, the sun and the wind have tastefully formed the island for thousands of years, creating an impressive coastline.

Beaches with golden sand or colorful pebbles, rocks in the place of sculptures exhibited at the most updated gallery, trees extending their shadow to the edge of the water. In the beautifully preserved Old Town of Corfu, a UNESCO world heritage site, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical repertoirecame to be successfully applied to local artistic traditions.

Palaces, fortresses, austere public buildings of the Venetian rule uniquely blend with lines of drying washing in tiny alleyways and small secluded squares. Strolling through a complex of narrow cobbled streets with stairways and vaulted passages, the so-called kantoúnia, will make you feel as if you’ve traveled to Genoa or Naples.