Kefalonia

In antiquity the island was divided among four city-states, Pale, Krane, Same and Pronnoi; Krane stood near modern Argostoli, and all four sided with Athens in the Peloponnesian War. Rome took Same after a long siege in 189 BC. In the Byzantine period the capital moved inland to the Castle of Saint George, and after Norman, Angevin and Tocco rule and a brief Ottoman spell, Venice captured the island in 1500 and held it until 1797. Under Venice Kefalonia became, with Zakynthos, one of the world's largest exporters of currants and built up a large merchant fleet.

Argostoli became the capital in 1757, as people moved down from the castle to trade on its sheltered bay, and it grew into one of the busiest ports in Greece. Under British rule Colonel Charles de Bosset built the bridge across the bay in 1813; by 1848 demands for union with Greece led to rebellions in Argostoli and Lixouri, and the island joined Greece in 1864.

The 20th century brought two catastrophes. In September 1943, after Italy's armistice, the Italian Acqui Division fought the Germans, holding out in the siege of Argostoli before being defeated; about five thousand of the surviving soldiers were executed, the events behind Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Buildings spared by German bombing were destroyed by the earthquakes of August 1953, which left only Fiskardo standing and lifted the whole island by about 60 cm; many people left. Argostoli was rebuilt, and tourism grew from the 1980s, helped by the 2001 film, shot partly in the town.

Island identity is strong and well defined. Most old Kefalonian families have surnames ending in -atos, almost every village name ends in -ata, and the rivalry between Argostoli, the administrative centre, and Lixouri, which protested when the capital moved to Argostoli in the 18th century, goes back a long way. Kefalonians include Panaghis Vallianos, acclaimed as the father of modern Greek shipping, and the National Merchant Marine Academy is in Argostoli.

Faith centres on Saint Gerasimos, the patron saint, whose relics lie in his monastery below Mount Ainos; on his feasts in August and October his body is carried over the sick. Music follows the Ionian school: Argostoli has the Rokos Vergottis Conservatory, Lixouri a philharmonic band founded in 1836, and the cantadas, serenades with Italian roots, are still sung. Lord Byron spent five months at Metaxata in 1823, and the island has its own literary voices, among them the satirist Andreas Laskaratos of Lixouri.

Sport has a maritime bent: the Nautical Club of Argostoli, founded in 1957, plays water polo in the top national league and offers rowing, sailing and kayaking. The memory of the Acqui Division is kept by a small museum on the Lithostroto, and the 1953 earthquake remains a reference point in family histories.

About 13,700 people lived in the Argostoli municipal unit at the 2021 census, and about 23,600 in the wider municipality created in 2019; the municipal unit alone holds over a third of the island's people. The island had about 36,000 residents in 2011, far below its peak of 70,000 in 1896, after emigration to Patras, Athens, America and Australia.

Tourism is the main earner from May to October, with many Italian visitors. Fish farming and calcium carbonate are the leading industries, and olive oil remains central to farming: there are over a million olive trees on the island, covering more than half of it. Argostoli is also an administrative and student town, with campuses of the Ionian University and the merchant marine academy.

Two-thirds of the population now lives in towns, a reversal since the 1970s. Life follows the seasons, with long working hours in summer and a quiet, rainy winter. Forest fires in hot summers and earthquakes, including a 5.9-magnitude quake in 2014 that injured at least seven people, are recurring concerns.

Kefalonian cooking belongs to the Ionian tradition, which shows a lot of Italian influence, and has its own dishes. The best known is the Kefalonian meat pie, kreatopita, served in many restaurants and made in traditional recipes with up to three kinds of meat. Others include sofigado, a meat stew described both as rabbit giouvetsi and as lamb or veal with vegetables; bourbourelia, a mix of cereals and legumes; riganada; tsigaridia, a dish of greens; the salads andrakla and pissara; and prentza, a creamy cheese. Argostoli's big bakery on the harbour front is known for its small round cheese pies.

Olive oil is the base of the kitchen. Kefalonian oil, mostly from the koroneiki and theiako varieties, has a green tone and low acidity. Before the 1953 earthquake some 200 oil presses worked on the island; today there are thirteen. Wild thyme honey is the island's other prized product and is sold in shops and from farms.

The island's wine is Robola, a white grape grown mainly on Kefalonia, which makes dry, lemony whites. Fish and seafood are eaten along the harbours, and the open-air bars of Lassi fill on summer evenings. The Ionian University's Department of Food Science and Technology is based in Argostoli.