Ionian Islands in Venetian hands since 1238. The islands thus became the only part of the Greek-speaking world to escape Ottoman rule, which gave them both a unity and an importance in Greek history they would otherwise not have had. Corfu was the only Greek island never conquered by the Turks. Under Venetian rule, many of the upper classes spoke Italian (or Venetian in some cases) and converted to Roman Catholicism, but the majority remained Greek ethnically, linguistically, and religiously. In the 18th century, a Greek national independence movement began to emerge, and the free status of the Ionian islands made them
Paxi Paxi Paxi or Paxoi (Greek: Παξοί, pronounced in English and in Greek) is the smallest island group within the Ionian Islands (the Heptanese). In Greek it is a plural form. The largest islands are Paxos and nearby Antipaxos. Antipaxos is famous for its wine and two of the finest sand beaches in the Ionian Sea. The main town of Paxoi, and the seat of the municipality, is Gaios. The municipality has an area of 30.121 km.. The area of the island is 76 square kilometers = just under 30 square miles. In Greek mythology, Poseidon created the island by striking