Sapientza or Sapienza () is a Greek island off the southern coast of the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

, near the city of Methóni. It is administratively part of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Pylos-Nestor Pylos-Nestoras () is a municipality in the Messenia regional unit, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Pylos. The municipality has an area of 554.265 km2. Municipality The municipality Pylos-Nestora ...

, in

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a prefecture (''nomos' ...

. The 2011 census reported a population of two inhabitants. Sapientza is the second largest island of the Messenian Oinousses, a small group island which consists of three small islands ( Schiza, Sapientza and Agia Marina). Its name is of Italian origin and means wisdom. The Calypso Deep, the deepest point of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

at , is located south-west of Sapientza.

Description

The island has seen many shipwrecks because it is located over the main sea route between Italy and the Middle East. Some of the wrecks carried important cargo, such as a Toman wreck that carried granite columns from the peristyle of Herod's temple in

Caesarea Maritima Caesarea () also Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Palaestinae or Caesarea Stratonis, was an ancient and medieval port city on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, and later a small fishing village. It was the capital of Judaea (Roman province), ...

. In the south of the island there is an important lighthouse built in 1885. Its height is 8 meters. Sapientza has lush vegetation with dense shrubland and perennial hollies, arbutus and other Mediterranean plants. It is the only place in the world where the arbutus turn into trees, as they have also formed an entire forest known as ' Kumarodasos' which extends over 240 acres. For this reason, Sapientza and the other Messenian Oinousses have been included in the Natura 2000 Network, with code GR2550003. On the island you can also find a large number of Kri-kri that live and breed there.

History

Sapientza is known for the Treaty of Sapienza in 1209, between the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

and the

Principality of Achaea The Principality of Achaea () or Principality of Morea was one of the vassal states of the Latin Empire, which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thes ...

. With this treaty Methoni and Corone remained under Venetian rule and the remainder of the Peloponnese was ceded to Villehardouin. In 1354, the Venetian and Genoese fleets fought the Battle of Sapienza. After the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

, Sapienza became a part of the Greek state. Nevertheless, the British claimed Sapienza during the Pacifico case, as part of the United States of the Ionian Islands.

References

{{Authority control Islands of Greece Landforms of Messenia Islands of Peloponnese (region) Pylos-Nestor