The Ionian derives its name from the goddess Ιο. Ιο was a priestess of Hera and for a short time a mistress to Zeus.  Inevitably there was conflict when Hera discovered Zeus was deceiving her and, fearing what Hera in her wrath might do, he changed Ιο into a white cow. Not to be outdone, Hera sent a gadfly to torment the unfortunate Ιο, who plunged into the sea to rid herself of the stinging pest - hence the Ionian Sea. Historically the importance of the Ionian was as a stepping-stone route from the Aegean to Italy and Sicily. Corfu has always been identified as the Homeric island home of the Phaeacians, those mythical ancient sailors who ferried Odysseus home to Ithaca.  On a more substantive level Corfu was the ancient Corcyra, a colony of Corinth and the stepping-stone to another important Corinthian colony - Syracuse in Sicily.

The seven islands were not united as a historical group until the 14th century when the islands appealed to Venice for protection from their tyrannical Norman and Genoese overlords. Venice seized the chance to consolidate her trade route from Venice around the Peloponnesus to the Aegean and thus the seven islands became one political unit. It was this long occupation by the Venetians that gave the Ionian its Italianate qualities. Many of the old gnarled olive trees seen today were planted during the Venetian occupation so the local population could pay its taxes in olive oil. Later the French and English added their own flavour to the islands until, in 1864, the seven islands reverted to Greece. .