Corcyra or Corfu (Greek: Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, Ancient Greek Κέρκυρα or Κόρκυρα, Latin: Corcyra, Italian Corfù) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It lies off the coast of Albania, from which it is separated by straits varying in breadth from 3 to 23 km (2 to 15 mi), including one near Butrint and a longer one west of Thesprotia. The island is part of the Corfu Prefecture. The principal town of the island is also named Corfu, or Kerkyra in Greek. Corfu is home to the Ionian University. The island is steeped in history and it is perennially connected to the history of Greece starting from Greek mythology.
Its Greek name, Kerkyra, is connected to two powerful water symbols: Poseidon, god of the sea and Asopos, an important Greek mainland river. According to myth, Poseidon fell in love with the beautiful nymph Korkyra, daughter of Asopus and river nymph Metope, and abducted her, as was the custom among gods of that era's myths - Zeus himself was a serial offender. Poseidon brought her to the hitherto unnamed island and, being in marital bliss, offered her name to the place: Korkyra, which gradually evolved to Kerkyra. Together, they had a child they called Phaiax, after whom the inhabitants of the island were named: Phaiakes, that was then transliterated via Latin to Phaeacians.
This myth, with its themes of romance between a powerful god and a beautiful nymph, with a trace of adventure, centred around the element of water, is suggestive of the special ambiance of the place.
The island's history is full of battles and conquests, indicative of Corfu's turbulent position in a historical vortex that lasted until modern times, when after the unification with modern Greece in 1864 the history of the island became one with the mainland's, with no more foreign intervention. The legacy of these struggles remains in the form of castles that exist in strategic locations all over the island. Two of these castles enclose the city. It is the only city in Greece to be surrounded by castles this way and as a result has officially been declared as a Kastropolis (Castle city) by the Greek Government. In 2007, the old town of the city was named to the UNESCO World Heritage List after a recommendation by ICOMOS.

Quite apart from their more malevolent invaders, the Corfiotes have a long history of hospitality to foreign residents and visitors, typified in the twentienth century by Gerald Durrell's childhood reminiscence My Family and Other Animals. Some Italian culture and cookery have been absorbed, and are particularly evident during August when Italian holidaymakers visit en masse. The North East coast has largely been developed by a few British holiday companies, with large expensive holiday villas which are used as homes during the two-thirds of the year out of season. The north and east coasts have most of the package holiday resorts, and with some exceptions the interior has relatively little tourist trade. This had had the effect of a massive transfer of resources, because traditionally the best farmland was away from the rocky shore, the salt and the pirates, but from the 1970s the inferior seaside land suddenly became the most desirable and highly valuable holiday property sites. Many Corfiotes now make more from the frantic four month holiday season than from their traditional agriculture. At the other end of the market, and also the other end of the island, the southern resort of Kavos provides the notoriously robust facilities particularly attractive to young holidaymakers, along similar lines to resorts such as Faliraki in Rhodes