Corfu has a population of 120,000, with some 45,000 in Corfu Town, on the island’s east central side.
The residents are largely Greek Orthodox but some 2,000 are Catholic, and of Maltese descent.
The origins of this small community began in 1819, when the British governor of the Ionian islands, Sir Thomas Maitland, decided to build the palace of St Michael and St George, in order to represent British hegemony over Zante, Lefkada, Ithaca, Kefalonia and Corfu, with Paxos and Antipaxos, as well as the Maltese islands.
This majestic building was erected in the centre of Corfu Town, mostly by Maltese and Gozitan stonemasons, in Malta stone, imported expressly for this purpose on British warships.
Hundreds of Maltese settled on the islands and many married local girls. After some generations many gave up their Maltese language and adopted the local Greek, from the islands of Lefkada and Kefalonia to the main island Corfu (Kérkyra).
Some Corfiot-Maltese surnames are Azzopardi, Cuschieri, Debono, Spiteris and Xuereb.
Their community grew to about 4,000 by the 1960s when, because of the fraught political and economic situation, many of them emigrated to Wales.
Today 2,000 remain, served by a Maltese-Corfiot archbishop, Ioannis Spiteris, and two priests of Maltese origin.
This is a dwindling community that faces stiff taxes from the Greek State, as opposed to the Orthodox clergy, who regularly receive a stipend.
Indeed, the island’s most famous church is an elaborately decorated Greek Orthodox one dedicated to St Spyridon, which contains the relics of Corfu’s patron saint.
Its red-domed bell tower is a local landmark, while inside its ceiling murals show the life of the saint, who was born in Cyprus and performed many miracles before he died in AD350.
This is a dwindling community that faces stiff taxes
His remains are kept in a silver casket, which is opened four times a year to show his mummified face. The saint is then paraded through town to commemorate the fact he saved the island’s residents from famine, Turkish invasion and twice from plague: these annual processions attract many local and foreign visitors.
Despite being a minority, there is still a Maltese Catholic church in the central part of Corfu Town.
The Nazis destroyed their original church in 1944 and burned its centennial archives.
The church of Saints Iakovos and Christophoros (SS. James and Christopher) was rebuilt in a simple Latin style and decoration after World War II.
Today it is large but plain. Masses are said in Greek, and even in various languages on Sundays.
This old Maltese Catholic community faces a difficult future and it may disappear altogether.