Ithaca or Ithaka(Greek: Ιθάκη, Ithakē) is an island located in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of 45 square miles and a little more than three thousand inhabitants. It is an independent municipality of the Kefallinia Prefecture, and lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia. The municipality of Ithaca includes some smaller islands as well. The capital, Itháki (Vathý), has one of the world's largest natural harbours. Modern Ithaca is generally identified with Homer's Ithaca, the home of Odysseus, whose delayed return to the island is the subject of the Odyssey.
The island has been inhabited since the 2nd millennium BC. It was the capital
of Cephalonia during the Mycenaean period. The Romans occupied the island Periphery: Ionian Islands
Prefecture: Kefallinia Prefecture
Capital: Vathy
Population: 3,084
Postal: 283 00, 283 01
Telephone: 26740 in the 2nd century BC, and later it became part of the Byzantine Empire.
The Normans ruled Ithaca in the 12th and 13th century, and after a short
Turkish rule it fell into Venetian hands.
Ithaca was then occupied by France under the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio. It was liberated by a joint Russo-Turkish force in 1798, before becoming part of the Septinsular Republic. It became a French possession again in 1807, until it was liberated by the United Kingdom in 1809. Under the 1815 Treaty of Paris, Ithaca became a state of the United States of the Ionian Islands, an amical protectorate of the United Kingdom. Under the 1864 Treaty of London, Ithaca, along with the islands, were ceded to Greece as a mark of cordiality with Greece's new king, the Anglophile George I.
Many structures were destroyed in an earthquake in 1953. In the 1970s, Kalamos split from the province and became part of the prefecture of Lefkada, and the province of Ithaca became a non-provincial municipality.
There is also a strait situated in the western part of the island called the Strait of Ithaca. The capes in the island include Exogi, the westernmost but not in land, Melissa to the north, Mavronos and Agios Ilias to the east, Schinous, Sarakiniko and Agios Ioannis, the easternmost to the east and Agiou Andreou, the southernmost in the south. Bays include Afales Bay to the northwest, Frikes and Kioni Bays to the northeast and Ormos Gulf and Sarakiniko Bay to the southeast. The tallest mountain is Nirito (806 m), the second tallest is Merovigli (669 m).
Lazaretto Islet (or Island of The Saviour) guards the harbor. The church of The Saviour and the remains of an old gaol sit on the island.
Administration
Ithaca is a separate peripheral unit of the Ionian Islands Periphery, and the only municipality of the peripheral unit. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the peripheral unit Ithaca was created out of the former Kefalonia and Ithaca Prefecture. The municipality, unchanged at the Kallikratis reform, includes islets other than Ithaca including two near Cape Melissa, Arkoudi and Atokos to the northeast and the numerous islets in the Echinades Island group (the larger ones being Drakonera, Makri, Oxeia, Petalas, and Vromonas) to the east near the mainland of Aitoloakarnania. Its largest towns are Itháki (pop. 1,816), Perachóri (354), Stavrós (325), Platreithiá (210), and Kióni (171). Communities and villages: Aetos, Afales, Agios Ioannis, Agia Saranta, Anogi, Exogi, Frikes, Kalivia, Kathara, Kioni, Kolieri, Lachos, Lefki, Marmaka, Perachori, Piso Aetos, Platrithia, Rachi, Stavros, Vathy/Ithaki.
Events
Local City Links:
- Citizen Service Center (KEP): Georgiou Drakouli, Vathi Ithakis
Tel - 26740 32110 - Police Department: Evmaiou 14
Tel - 26740 32000 - Post Office: Agiou Ioannou 8
Tel - 210-6392125 | 210-6008032 - Tax Office: Ithak
Tel - 0674 32533 | 32235 - Georgiou Pratsou 1
Tel - 26740 32111
CITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENTS
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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/
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