“Local religion” in Corfu: sixteenth to nineteenth centuries

What is it about?

The article explains the shifting meaning of a strong religious symbol in Corfu, the town's patron saint. From the 15th up to the end of the 18th c., following Venetian and Italian models of civic religion, st. Spyridon was thought to be the protector of the political authorities and of the entire population regardless of their religious allegiance -Latin or Greek. After the fall of Corfu to the Russians and the Ottomans however, he became the symbol of orthodox faith persecuting the catholics.

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Why is it important?

This study tries to explain that the meaning of religious symbols is subject to change. In the case of Corfu, which was part of the venetian state up to 1797, the change was related to a new balance of power between the two Christian groups of the town -the Latins and the Greeks- which followed the fall of Venice and the treaty of Campo Formio.