All about Zakynthos

Ruga Square is the main street of the pre-earthquake city. All along its route there were arches - columns with shops, the confectioneries of Antiochos-Valai and Panaretos, the Photography Studio of Lefa and houses. During the Venetian occupation this street was called Giostra. On the same route we meet the Church of Evangelistria, where the hagiographers Nik. Koutouzis and Nik. Kantounis, the most important representatives of the Ionian school of painting. The church was decorated with their works which unfortunately burnt down in 1953. In the place of the church today, the house of Skiadaresis, on 8 Alexandre Roma. Further down the street was the Church of St. Stephen. Near the Temple, during the earthquake, Teta Stamos remained with her crippled mother trapped in the rubble and despite all the urgings of the people to come out, she stayed and was burned alive. Next was the Roma House, where the Prefecture had been housed until the earthquake of '53. It was there that the surrender of the island to the Italian conquerors was signed by the occupying Prefect Petros Metaxas. Further down was the Mansion Michalitsis and the Mansion Martinegou-Gaitas, which became a nursing home.