Italian colonists in the Dodecanese the Leros town of Lakki (founded by the Italians as "Portolago"), which remains a prime example of Italian Rationalism. From 1923 to 1936, governor Mario Lago was able to integrate the Greek, Turkish and Ladino Jewish communities of the island of Rhodes with the Italian colonists. Lago's term of office constituted what might in retrospective be called the "Golden Period" of the Italian Dodecanese, with the economy booming and a relatively harmonious society. In the 1936 Italian census of the Dodecanese islands, the total population was 129,135, of which 7,015 were Italians. Nearly 80% of the Italian colonists lived in
Dodecanese campaign Allies lost six destroyers sunk and two cruisers and two destroyers damaged between 7 September and 28 November 1943. After the fall of Leros, Samos and the other smaller islands were evacuated. The Germans bombed Samos with Ju 87 ("Stukas") of I "Gruppe, Stukageschwader" 3 in Megara, prompting the 2,500-strong Italian garrison to surrender on 22 November. Along with the occupation of the smaller islands of Patmos, Fournoi and Ikaria on 18 November, the Germans completed their conquest of the Dodecanese, which they held until the end of the war. Only the island of Castellorizo off the Turkish coast was