Lixouri

Lixouri is one of the two big cities of the island. It is firstly mentioned as Lixari in 1534, in a complaining document to the English senate.

Two destructive earthquakes, the first in 1867 and the other in 1953, totally destroyed the town of Lixouri. The present town was rebuilt at the same place but it has certainly lost lots of its original traditional characteristics. Before the earthquakes, Lixouri was a town with narrow streets, tall church towers and numerous churches.

In the centre of the town an imposing building called Markato, was standing , which was built by the English in 1824.After the earthquake and its total destruction, Lixouri was rebuilt from the beginning. Many public and private buildings were built fortunately like the old ones, so the picturesqueness of the past is still preserved.

There are many squares, sculptures, monuments and streets planted with trees. Nowadays, Lixouri is an excellent organised, powerful, energetic Municipality.

In Lixouri,in this part of the island which stands away from the mountain range of Aenos that covers the rest of the island, there are well-formed, low hills, plain country, long sandy beaches and natural little rivers.Wherever you stand, the horizon in front of you is opem, your eye-sight isn’t limited, your sould isn’t captured. Perhaps, that is the reason why the inhabitants of Lixouri are a little bit “peculiar”, full of joy, vividness and inclination to litterature and arts.