Metaxata

Metaxata is one of the largest villages of Kefalonia and most historical. It belongs in Leivathos, in the south of the island and has 504 residents, according to the 2011 census.

Marcantonio Metaxas, noble of the court of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine Paleologos and his Adjutant, is the one who gave the name Metaxata in the village. He came in Kefalonia, after the Fall of Constantinople, as had happened with many other Byzantine rulers.

In Metaxata, had been discovered a cemetery of the Mycenaean era, which proves its habitation since then.

Kosmas Aetolos, who transferred from Kefalonia in the 18th century, had lived a few months in Metaxata and taught the faithful.

In 1823, he passed from Metaxata, Lord Byron, the philhellene poet, who gave his life to the liberation struggle of the Greeks. His statue is currently in the central square of Metaxata, like the house, where he lived and wrote for about four months.

In the village’s square is located the church of Agia Paraskevi, built in traditional Ionian architecture. In its bell tower, a plaque tells that Metaxata had since mourned the dead from the sea: they are the victims of the wreck of the steamer “Margarita” in the Indian Ocean, in 1925, including the master Gerasimos B. Metaxas.

In Metaxata, there is still the church of St. Nicholas, the old seat of the Diocese of Kefalonia – Zakynthos, where in the 17th century was operated the first printing of Greece. It had been carried to Metaxata by Nicodemus Metaxas, Archbishop of Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Ithaca (1628-1645) and today one can see the ruins in the churchyard.