# Famous Corfiots: Historical Figures of Corfu > Corfu history through its people: Kapodistrias, Mantzaros, Samaras, Theotokis, Vicky Leandros and more, plus the places on the island linked to them. URL: https://theauthenticgreece.com/corfu-historical-figures/ Last updated: 2026-10-30 --- For a small island, Corfu has produced an unusual number of people who shaped Greek history and culture: the first governor of modern Greece, the composer of the national anthem, the composer of the Olympic Hymn, leading writers and some of the best loved stars of Greek stage and song. Four centuries of Venetian rule, followed by the French and the British, gave Corfiot families access to Italian universities and European ideas long before the rest of Greece. This guide introduces the most important figures and tells you where on the island you can still find traces of them. ## Quick facts - **Best known Corfiot:** Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776 to 1831), first governor of independent Greece. - **Musical legacy:** Nikolaos Mantzaros wrote the music of the Greek national anthem; Spyridon Samaras wrote the Olympic Hymn. - **Literature:** Konstantinos Theotokis, one of the founders of the modern Greek social novel. - **Where to follow their traces:** Corfu Old Town, the Philharmonic Society museum and the Kapodistrias Museum outside town. - **Good for:** history lovers and anyone who wants more from Corfu Town than a café stop. ## Why Corfu produced so many notable people Corfu escaped Ottoman rule entirely. Under Venice the island had its own nobility, its own courts and close links with Venice and Padua, where the sons of leading families went to study law and medicine. The short French period after 1797 brought revolutionary ideas, and the British Protectorate from 1815 to 1864 founded the Ionian Academy, the first university of the modern Greek world. Add a lively theatre and music scene, and you have a small society with an outsized habit of producing statesmen, composers and writers. Our guide to medieval and Venetian Corfu explains that background in more detail. ## Statesmen ### Ioannis Kapodistrias Ioannis Kapodistrias was born in Corfu Town in February 1776 into a noble family. According to local tradition he was baptised in the church of Saint Nicholas of the Elders in the [Campiello quarter](https://theauthenticgreece.com/campiello-corfu/). He studied medicine, philosophy and law at Padua and returned home in 1797 to practise as a doctor, treating poor patients without charge. His political career began in the Septinsular Republic, the short lived Ionian state founded in 1800 under Russian and Ottoman protection, where he rose to become chief minister. When the French took the islands back in 1807 he left, and in 1809 he entered the service of Tsar Alexander I of Russia. He became one of the most respected diplomats in Europe, served as joint Russian foreign minister from 1816 to 1822 and helped shape the settlement of Switzerland at the Congress of Vienna. He left Russian service in 1822 to support the Greek War of Independence from Geneva. In January 1828 he landed at Nafplio as the first governor of the newly independent Greek state. He set out to build institutions from nothing: schools, a currency, courts and a regular army. His centralising style made enemies among the powerful local clans, and on 9 October 1831 (27 September in the old calendar used in Greece at the time) he was shot dead outside the church of Saint Spyridon in Nafplio by members of the Mavromichalis family of the Mani. You can still see the bullet mark there; our [Nafplio travel guide](https://theauthenticgreece.com/nafplio-travel-guide/) tells you where. He is buried at the Platytera monastery on the edge of Corfu Town. ## Composers and musicians ### Nikolaos Mantzaros Nikolaos Chalikiopoulos Mantzaros was born in Corfu on 26 October 1795 to an aristocratic family. He studied first on the island and later with the composer Niccolò Zingarelli in Naples. His most famous work is the music for Dionysios Solomos’s poem, the Hymn to Liberty, whose opening stanzas became the national anthem of Greece in 1865. In 1840 he helped found the Philharmonic Society of Corfu and served as its first artistic director until his death in 1872, training a generation of island musicians for free. That is the root of the brass band tradition you hear in every Corfu procession, explained in our guide to the philharmonic bands of Corfu. ### Spyridon Xyndas and Spyridon Samaras Two more Corfiot composers made Greek music history. Spyridon Xyndas (1812 to 1896), a pupil of Mantzaros, wrote *O Ypopsifios* (The Parliamentary Candidate), premiered in Corfu in 1867 and regarded as the first full opera to a Greek libretto. Spyridon Samaras, born in Corfu in 1861, built a successful career in Italian opera houses and composed the Olympic Hymn for the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, to words by the poet Kostis Palamas. It is still played at every Olympic opening ceremony. Napoleon Lambelet, another Corfiot, worked largely abroad and wrote songs and light music. ### Giorgos Katsaros In the 20th century, the Corfu born saxophonist and composer Giorgos Katsaros became one of the busiest musicians in Greek popular music and film, working with singers such as Nana Mouskouri and writing the score for the 1972 film *I Komissa tis Kerkyras* (The Countess of Corfu). ## Writers ### Konstantinos Theotokis Konstantinos Theotokis (1872 to 1923) came from one of the oldest noble families on the island but became a committed socialist after studying in Germany. His novels about Corfiot village and town life, especially *Honour and Money* (1914) and *Slaves in Their Chains* (1922), are classics of modern Greek prose and paint a sharp picture of a declining aristocracy and a struggling peasantry. He was also an energetic translator, including of Shakespeare. ### Iakovos Polylas and Albert Cohen Iakovos Polylas (1825 to 1896), born in Corfu, was a writer, translator of Homer and Shakespeare and the editor who published the works of the national poet Dionysios Solomos after his death. Solomos himself was from Zakynthos but lived and wrote in Corfu for almost three decades. A very different Corfiot was the novelist Albert Cohen, born into the island’s Jewish community in 1895. His family moved to Marseille when he was a child, and he became one of the great French novelists of the 20th century, best known for *Belle du Seigneur*. ## Stage, screen and song **Rena Vlahopoulou** (1923 to 2004), born in Corfu, became one of the most popular comic actresses and singers of Greek cinema and revue theatre in the 1950s and 1960s. **Vicky Leandros** was born in Paleokastritsa in August 1949 and moved to Germany with her family in 1958. She went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg in 1972 with *Après toi* and built a long international career, later serving briefly as a deputy mayor of Piraeus. If you visit her birthplace, our guide to [Paleokastritsa](https://theauthenticgreece.com/paleokastritsa/) covers the bays and the monastery. One more famous name was born on Corfu, though he was not a Corfiot in any real sense: Prince Philip, later Duke of Edinburgh, was born at the villa of Mon Repos in June 1921, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece. The house and its park are covered in our guide to Kanoni and Mon Repos. ## Where to follow their traces - **Saint Nicholas of the Elders, Campiello:** the church where, by tradition, Kapodistrias was baptised. - **Kapodistrias Museum:** the family’s summer house at Koukouritsa, a short drive south of town, with furniture and personal belongings. - **Philharmonic Society of Corfu museum:** on Nikiforou Theotoki Street in the old town, with scores and instruments connected to Mantzaros, Samaras, Xyndas and Lambelet. - **Kapodistriou Street and the Spianada:** statues and plaques to Corfiot figures are scattered around the square and the lanes behind the Liston. - **Platytera monastery:** the burial place of Kapodistrias, near the northern entrance to town. ## Practical tips - Small museums such as the Kapodistrias Museum and the Philharmonic Society museum keep limited and seasonal hours. Check current times before going, as they change from year to year. - Combine the town sights with a walk; most of them sit along our [Corfu Town walking route](https://theauthenticgreece.com/corfu-town-walking-route/). - Try to hear a philharmonic band during a festival or procession. It is the most direct way to connect with Mantzaros’s legacy. - If you read Greek, or can find translations, Theotokis’s novels are the best introduction to how Corfu lived a century ago. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Who is the most famous person from Corfu? Ioannis Kapodistrias, born in Corfu in 1776, is the most important. He was a leading Russian diplomat and became the first governor of independent Greece in 1828, before his assassination in Nafplio in 1831. ### Who wrote the Greek national anthem? The words are by Dionysios Solomos, from his Hymn to Liberty, and the music is by the Corfiot composer Nikolaos Mantzaros. It became the national anthem in 1865. ### Was the Olympic Hymn written by a Corfiot? Yes. Spyridon Samaras, born in Corfu in 1861, composed the Olympic Hymn for the 1896 Athens Games, with words by Kostis Palamas. It is still performed at Olympic ceremonies. ### Where is Kapodistrias buried? He is buried at the Platytera monastery on the edge of Corfu Town, together with his brother Avgoustinos. The family’s summer house south of town is now the Kapodistrias Museum. ### Was Prince Philip born in Corfu? Yes, Prince Philip was born at the villa of Mon Repos, just south of Corfu Town, in June 1921. His father was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, and the family left Greece when he was a baby. ## Frequently asked questions ### Who is the most famous person from Corfu? Ioannis Kapodistrias, born in Corfu in 1776, is the most important. He was a leading Russian diplomat and became the first governor of independent Greece in 1828, before his assassination in Nafplio in 1831. ### Who wrote the Greek national anthem? The words are by Dionysios Solomos, from his Hymn to Liberty, and the music is by the Corfiot composer Nikolaos Mantzaros. It became the national anthem in 1865. ### Was the Olympic Hymn written by a Corfiot? Yes. Spyridon Samaras, born in Corfu in 1861, composed the Olympic Hymn for the 1896 Athens Games, with words by Kostis Palamas. It is still performed at Olympic ceremonies. ### Where is Kapodistrias buried? He is buried at the Platytera monastery on the edge of Corfu Town, together with his brother Avgoustinos. The family's summer house south of town is now the Kapodistrias Museum. ### Was Prince Philip born in Corfu? Yes, Prince Philip was born at the villa of Mon Repos, just south of Corfu Town, in June 1921. His father was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, and the family left Greece when he was a baby.