The island of Santorini, at the beginning of 1200 was ceded as a principality to the Venetians , becoming the seat of the Catholic bishop. It was the Venetian Prince Giacomo Barozzi who gave it its current name, due to the presence on the island of a chapel dedicated to Sant Irene, located near a bay that served as a port for the Venetian fleet. The principality of the Venetians (Duchy of Naxos) including the islands of Santorino and Thira and kept them up to the middle of the 16th century. This principality recognized the management of the island to families, being of strategic importance in the Venetian Republic.

This did not stop the Ottoman raids: the island was in fact conquered by the Ottoman admiral Piyale Paşa in 1576, and the duchy was entrusted by the sultan to Giuseppe Nasi. In turn the Venetian raids resumed, the island was involved in the various Ottoman-Venetian wars until the middle of the 18th century.

From 1768 to 1774 it was disputed within the war between the Russians and the Ottomans. On March 25, 1821, the Greek independence uprisings began. In 1967 in the locality of Akrotiri, archaeologists unearthed an ancient city, almost completely intact and covered like Pompeii by ancient ashes. The find was cataloged as one of the most important in the history of archeology. Several unearthed houses feature a sophisticated plumbing system, with bathrooms and running water flowing into a perfect sewer system . This site bears witness to one of the earliest forms of urban engineering ever discovered in history.

Myth of Atlantis... The Greek eruption seems to have inspired certain myths and provided the basis or at least the inspiration for Plato for the narration of the myth of Atlantis. It is hypothesized that the mythical island of Atlantis can be identified with Santorini.