The island name comes from ‘Santa Irini’ and it is officially called Thera.
Santorini is located in the south of the Cycladic islands, just between Ios and Anafi, 130 nautical miles from Piraeus and 70 nautical miles from Crete. The island covers an area of 96 km2, has a coastline of 69 kilometres and its length reaches 18 km. Santorini has a population of about 6500-7000 inhabitants during winter, a number that rises up to 11.000 during the summer.

During the ancient times, the shape of Santorini was circular and that was the reason it was also called Strongili, which means circular in Greek. The volcano’s eruption destroyed the centre of the island, causing it to sink and to create today’s caldera.
The first eruption of the Volcano took place around 1500 BC, and is said to be responsible for the destruction of the great Minoan civilisation of Crete. The last eruption took place in 1956 but the volcano remains active until today. Some believe that the destruction of Santorini could be related to that of the mythical Atlantis.