Dafni is a village and a community in the municipality of

Nafpaktia Nafpaktia ( el, Ναυπακτία), Latinized Naupactia, is the historical name for the region around the port town of Nafpaktos (Naupactus) in Central Greece. It is also the name of a municipality in the Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, West G ...

Aetolia-Acarnania Aetolia-Acarnania ( el, Αιτωλοακαρνανία, ''Aitoloakarnanía'', ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the geographic region of Central Greece and the administrative region of West Greece. A combination of the histor ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. The community consists of the villages Dafni (also ''Ano Dafni''), Kato Dafni (the largest village of the community) and Trypou, now uninhabited. During the centuries of Ottoman occupation, Dafni was located higher up in the hills in an area called now Old Dafni (Paliodafni); of that settlement only the foundations of a few houses survive. The name Dafni means laurel. It comes either from the laurel plant that is indigenous to the area or from small plants called also dafni that grow in abundance on the banks of the nearby river

Mornos The Mornos ( el, Μόρνος) is a river in Phocis and Aetolia-Acarnania in Greece. It is long. Its source is in the southwestern part of the Oiti mountains, near the village Mavrolithari, Phocis. It flows towards the south, and enters the Morno ...

(its alternative but rarely used name is Dafnos). The settlement of Kato Dafni began in the early 20th century and before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

it had less than 20 houses. Now it is a thriving and rapidly growing part of Nafpaktos. Its landmarks are the impressive St Paraskevi Cathedral, the construction of which is still ongoing, and the Mornos river bridge with its five arches, constructed in 1939 as part of Greece's preparation for the war. The river is now mostly dry; its water is used for farm irrigation but most of it is diverted to the municipal water supply of Athens. Dafni in general and Kato Dafni in particular, have a rich cultural history. Many locals, most of them retired, gather at its roadside cafes to analyze geopolitical issues and world affairs. Politics and international events receive daily scrutiny by people keeping abreast through radio, television and newspapers. Financial issues, mainly capital markets, are analyzed as well. Nothing escapes the sensitive antennae of these remarkable yet otherwise idle pensioners who have formed closed groups, deep in thought and animated by cultural concerns. Notable among them are retired teachers of all levels of education ranging from kindergarten to university. Products of the area include olives, figs and oranges; large orange groves dot the picturesque landscape. Kato Dafni's water was considered to have therapeutic properties and before the cortisone era many used it to treat skin diseases. Dafni has been visited by famous contemporaries including the Italian poet and Nobel laureate

Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale (; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator, and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature. Life and works Early years Montale was born in Genoa. His family were che ...

. Due to language barriers he was unable to converse with the groups of Kato Dafni's passionate discussants.

References

* Ta Nea tis Dafnis, local monthly newspaper, publication currently suspended. * "Dafni" biannual priodical (~200 pages per issue) devoted to cultural issues and local tradition. M. Mentzas, ed. * K. Oikonomou, Nafpaktos - a tourist guide, privately published, ca 1970 Populated places in Aetolia-Acarnania {{WGreece-geo-stub