"Una fatsa, una ratsa", "one face, one race": that is how many Greeks greet Italians, with a phrase borrowed from Italian itself. The two peoples share the Mediterranean, food, a love of the piazza and family, and a very long common history of trade, rule, war and friendship.
Three thousand years of history
- In antiquity the Greeks founded their colonies in southern Italy and Sicily, Magna Graecia; later Rome conquered Greece and adopted its culture.
- In medieval and early modern times the Republic of Venice ruled the Ionian Islands, Crete, parts of the Peloponnese and many Aegean islands for centuries, while Genoa held Chios. Fortresses, lions of St Mark, Catholic churches and hundreds of Italian words in Greek remain.
- On Corfu, Venetian for four centuries, Italian was the language of the educated until the 19th century; the poet Ugo Foscolo was born on Zakynthos. In the 19th century many Italian exiles of the Risorgimento took refuge in Greece and some, like Santorre di Santarosa, fought and died for Greek independence.
- From 1912 to 1947 the Dodecanese was Italian: in Rhodes, Kos and Leros you can still see rationalist and "colonial" buildings from those years, such as the new town of Rhodes and the town of Lakki on Leros.
The war
On 28 October 1940 Fascist Italy attacked Greece, which repelled the invasion. German, Italian and Bulgarian occupation followed until 1943-1944. After the armistice of 8 September 1943, on Kefalonia soldiers of the Italian Acqui Division refused to hand their weapons to the Germans and were massacred in their thousands: a monument in Argostoli remembers them. It is a painful but shared memory, and relations between the two countries are now very friendly.
The community today
Thousands of Italians live in Greece today: professionals and employees of Italian and international companies, teachers, researchers, restaurateurs, tourism entrepreneurs, students and a growing number of retirees drawn by the Greek climate and pace of life. Italian tourism has always been one of the most important for Greece, especially in the Cyclades, Crete and the Ionian Islands.
Retiring in Greece
Greece offers a special tax regime for pensioners moving their residence from abroad, with a 7% flat tax on foreign income for fifteen years, under certain conditions. The rules also depend on double taxation treaties and on the type of pension: government pensions, for example, are often taxed in the paying country. Take expert advice before moving.
Italian institutions
| Institution | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Italian Embassy in Athens | Consular services, passports, assistance |
| Honorary consulates | In several cities and islands, basic assistance |
| Italian State School of Athens | From kindergarten to upper secondary, Italian qualifications |
| Italian Cultural Institutes, Athens and Thessaloniki | Language courses, cultural events, library |
| Italian Archaeological School at Athens | Research and excavations |
| Italian-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce | In Athens and Thessaloniki, business support |
| Catholic churches | Masses in Italian in some parishes in Athens and on the islands |
Places of Italian memory
- Corfu: the Venetian old town, a UNESCO site, and the Liston built by the French on a Parisian model.
- Zakynthos: the Solomos museum and the memory of Foscolo.
- Kefalonia: the monument to the fallen of the Acqui Division in Argostoli.
- Rhodes and Leros: 20th-century Italian architecture.
- Crete: the Venetian fortresses of Chania, Rethymno and Heraklion.
- Syros and Tinos: Catholic communities of ancient Latin origin.
- Sphacteria, near Pylos: the monument to Santorre di Santarosa.
See also working in Greece, buying a home and Ottoman and Venetian Greece.