Municipality of Lefkimeon

Whatever we say about Lefkimmi is inadequate. It is a different world, a separate one. On the roads, women riding donkeys return from their fields. In the west, rare cedar woods border Lake Korission. At the southern tip of the region, the atmospheric forest of Arkoudillas surrounds the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary, dating from 1700. To the east a lighthouse stands on the Lefkimmi headland, by the 15th century saltpans. More vines grow in these fields than anywhere else in Corfu.

Lefkimmi (Alefkimo) has a long history. Archaeologists believe that settlements existed at Arkoudillas, at Boro (near Neohori) and at Boukari as far back as Paleolithic and Neolithic times. At that period, the sea between Gardiki and Vitalades reached the level of today's main road. Thucydides mentions the naval battle between Corfu and Corinth, which took place off the Lefkimmi headland around 435-434 BC. Archaic traditions which have been maintained to the present time, Byzantine buildings and artifacts provide proof of continuous human occupation in the area, despite barbarian raids which frequently laid waste to the area. During Venetian times, Greeks fleeing from Turkish occupied areas built whole villages. Today the South of Corfu has a population of 10,000, around half residing within the borders of the Municipality of Lefkimmi, which covers the area south of Vitalades.

The Lefkimmiots are bound to their soil and its history. Independent people, they hold to their traditions and (mainly agricultural) way of life. Living far from the protection of the town, they bore the brunt of barbarian raids, but retained their Hellenistic spirit and culture with great passion. Directness and spontaneity, wine and song, together with hard work in the fields, are fundamental to the most original way of life on the island.

The municipality of Lefkimmi is also home to the busiest resort on the island, Kavos.