72 Fascinating Facts About Santorini
Yassas! Welcome to the Greek Island of Santorini (Σαντορίνη), one of the world’s most beautiful and famous islands! What is Santorini famous for besides its signature clifftop white & blue houses? Below is a fun collection of facts about Santorini, the “Wine Island”!
General Santorini Facts
- Santorini is one of the 200+ major islands of Greece (there are over 6,000 if you count the smaller ones).
- Santorini is the largest and southernmost of the Cyclades, an archipelago of 56 islands southeast of Athens and mainland Greece.
- Santorini is not one but a small group of volcanic islands, totaling 90.69 km2 (35mi2), about one-tenth the size of Luxembourg.
- Santorini is what remains of a caldera (the crater formed by a volcanic eruption) filled with seawater.
- Santorini has erupted many times in history, including a major eruption in 1600 BCE that most likely led to the downfall of the Minoan Civilization on Crete.
Suggested Read: 25 Fun Facts About Crete: Ancient Greece’s Island Empire
- The main island of Santorini is 73 km2 (35mi2), while Thirasia is 9.25 km2 (35mi2).
- At the center of the caldera, Nea Kameni island (3.4 km2) rises from the sea, with smaller Palia Kameni beside it. Formed by successive layers of lava and ash, they are sometimes called the “Burned Islands.”
- Santorini also includes two small, uninhabited islands called Aspronisi and Christiana.
- Santorini’s capital is Fira, while the whole island group is traditionally known as Thira or Thera.
- Thira Municipality includes all the islands of Santorini and has an elected mayor.
- 15,500 people live permanently on Santorini.
- Over 2 million tourists visit Santorini annually, and that’s not even counting cruise ship visitors.
- 90% of Santorini’s economy is based on tourism.
- Santorini has an arid Mediterranean landscape – it almost never rains in spring and summer.
- Numerous sources, including Tripadvisor, Travel and Leisure, and US News have ranked Santorini as one of the world’s best islands to visit (for another top-rated island, read these facts about Bali!)
Random Interesting Facts about Santorini
- Santorini is often proposed as one of the possible locations of the mythical island of Atlantis.
- Santorini is one of the few places in the world where people live right on a volcanic caldera, including the island’s famous yposkafa, or volcanic cave houses.
- Buildings in Santorini and other Cycladic islands weren’t traditionally painted white and blue. People started whitewashing the stone buildings in the late 1930s after a cholera epidemic in Greece. The trend stuck, with blue and other colors added to roofs and windows. Blue and white later became the norm, matching the colors of the Greek flag.
- There are around 450 churches on Santorini. According to a local saying, “There are more churches than houses, there are more donkeys than people, and there is more wine than there is water.”
- The Three Bells of Fira at the Catholic Church of the Dormition are a symbol of Santorini.
- Red Beach is one of Santorini’s most famous beaches. The beach gets its color from crushed volcanic rocks which also make up the huge cliff backing the beach.
- 1000-1500 weddings are held in Santorini every year.
- The lip of the caldera in Fira is lined with romantic restaurants, bar patios, hotels, and infinity pools with sweeping views of the caldera.
- Santorini has about 70 historic windmills.
- Ferry passengers arrive in Santorini at Athinios Port, from where 600 steps lead 400 meters up to the town of Fira.
- Traditionally, donkeys were used to climb the steps, but the government has taken steps to reduce their use and limit their weight after overweight tourists injured the animals.
- The town can also be reached via cable car, bus, and taxi. ATV buggies are one of the most popular ways for tourists to get around the island.
- Oia, at the northwestern end of the main island of Santorini, is known as the sunset village. Many consider it the prettiest village in Santorini.
- Nea Kameni, the volcanic island at the center of the caldera, has many sulfur vents. In summer, a carpet of grassy red succulents and other vegetation grows on the thin soil covering parts of the island.
- Visitors to Nea Kameni usually spend 90 minutes on the island as a part of a caldera boat tour and can climb to its highest point, at 114m (374 ft).
- In a small cove on the islet of Palea Kameni, orange volcanic hot spring water bubbles into the seawater. Tour boats usually stop there to let tourists swim in the water.
- Business mogul Giannis Alafouzos was from Santorini, while Spyros Markezinis (former Prime Minister of Greece) belonged to a Santorini family. Folk singer Mariza Koch also grew up in Santorini.
Facts About Santorini’s History
- The 500 km (300 mi) South Aegean Volcanic Arc, which Santorini is a part of, became active 3–4 million years ago.
- Santorini itself became volcanically active about 2 million years ago.
- Santorini was the site of Akrotiri, a Minoan settlement, going back to 3000 BCE. The Minoans were a bronze-age civilization based in Crete, the largest Greek Island, 115 km (72 mi) south of Santorini. Akrotiri is the best-known Minoan site outside of Crete.
- Santorini’s greatest eruption occurred sometime around 1642 to 1540 BCE; the exact dates are fiercely debated among experts. It was one of the largest eruptions in recorded history.
- This catastrophic eruption destroyed Akrotiri and created earthquakes and tsunamis, destroying settlements on many nearby islands.
- The eruption is largely believed to have sparked the downfall of the Minoan Civilization.
- Ash from the eruption is used as a significant marker point in the archaeological record throughout the Eastern Mediterranean.
- The eruption is described on the Egyptian Tempest Stele and may have caused a cold wave as far away as China.
- Santorini remained unoccupied for the remainder of the Bronze Age.
- Sometime after the Bronze Age Collapse (1200 BCE), Phoenicians (from modern-day Lebanon) established a settlement on the island called Callista.
- In the 9th century BCE, Greek Dorians founded Thera, named after their mythical leader Theras. Today, the site is called Ancient Thera and is on the ridge of 360-meter Messavouno Mountain.
- Thera colonized cities in Northern Africa, and during the Ancient Greek civilization, it often fought against Athens.
- Pliny the Elder reported the appearance of Nea Kameni, a new island at the center of the Santorini caldera, on July 9, 19 CE.
- Rome took over Thera, and later the Byzantine Empire.
- Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian took an eruption of Santorini as a divine omen against the worship of icons, leading him to implement a policy of iconoclasm.
- During the Ottoman period, Santorini was taken by the Republic of Venice and later the Ottomans themselves, but mostly remained semi-autonomous.
- The name Santorini first appeared in the mid-12th century. The Venetians named it after the island’s patron saint, Saint Irene.
- In the 18th century, residents of Santorini moved the capital from Skaros, built by the Venetians, to Fira, the present location.
- Santorini gained independence along with the Kingdom of Greece in 1832.
- During WWII, Santorini was occupied by Italian and then German forces.
- The most recent eruption of Santorini occurred in 1950. It produced a new lava dome on Nea Kameni.
- The 1956 Amorgos earthquake caused significant damage to Santorini.
- The Santorini Airport began operating in 1972.
- Electricity only became widely available in Santorini in 1974.
- The Santorini Cable Car, which provides access from the Santorini Ferry Port to Fira town, was completed in 1982.
- In 1986, Santorini’s pumice quarries were closed in order to preserve the caldera.
- In 2007, the cruise ship MS Sea Diamond sank in the Santorini caldera.
- The COVID-19 pandemic cut tourism in half in Santorini. Locals used the time to repair and construct facilities, including new roads and an airport terminal.
- In late 2022, Santorini fully recovered and broke its previous record for tourist arrivals.
Facts About Food and Drinks in Santorini
- Fava is the most iconic dish of Santorini. It is made from mashed yellow split peas with oil and spices.
- Seafood and capers are also ubiquitous local ingredients. A “Santorini Salad” is like a Greek salad but with capers.
- Chlorotyri is a local cheese in Santorini made with goat’s milk.
- Another traditional dish is apochti, pork loin that is seasoned and soaked in vinegar before being dried.
- Due to the volcanic soil, tomatoes and eggplants (which are white in Santorini) have an especially strong flavor.
- Santorini is known for its wine, especially Assyrtiko, which is native to the island. The grape thrives in the island’s volcanic soils. Assyrtiko is a rich white wine that can be dry but is usually sweet.
- Wines containing at least 50% Assyrtiko and following other traditional making practices are labeled “Vinsanto.”
- There are 18 vineyards on Santorini, most of which are open to tourists.
- Due to the volcanic soil, Santorini’s grape vines are immune to insects like phylloxera, so many of them are hundreds of years old.
- There is a wine museum in a cave at Koutsoyannopoulos Winery on Santorini.
- Santorini has one brewery, Santorini Brewing Company. Their beers include Yellow Donkey, Crazy Donkey, Slow Donkey, and Lazy Ass.