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
Music of the Heptanese western and Catholic influences on the Orthodox rite. The region is also notable for the birth of the first School of modern Greek classical music (Heptanesean or Ionian School, Greek: Επτανησιακή Σχολή), established in 1815. Folk dances of the islands include: Music of the Heptanese The music of the Heptanese is the folk music of the geographic and historical region of the Ionian Islands. It is based a lot on the western European style. It is dominant the use of guitars and mandolins, while the "kantadhes" (romantic serenades from the Ionian Islands) are very popular. The island of Zakynthos has