Velina

by car: Through the National Road connecting Athens to Corinth, you follow the slip road to Kiato and then the signs that lead to Stymphalia. Shortly after you have passed by the village of Souli, turn right to take the road to Velina (a total distance of 125 km / 77,6 mi from Athens).

The place name Velina (or Velyna) is of Slavic origin. According to historians, it means grassland or land of variety.

1700: On the registers of a census held by the Venetians, the village is recorded using the same name.

1821: The inhabitants of Velina participated in the Greek war of Independence. According to the written testimonies of the revolutionary assemblies of 1826 in Klimenti of Corinthia, many inhabitants of Velina fought under the command of members of the respected Notaras family whereas others contributed by offering victuals.

1912: The regal decree of August 31st 1912 officially recognizes the community of Velina.

• TRADITION

Popular saying: "Beware of the marmanga's bite".

According to Greek folklore, marmanga is a kind of poisonous spider that devours its victims without leaving any traces of them afterwards. In the area of Velina, as the legend goes, the victims of this spider are treated in the following way: a hole is opened in the ground and the person who has been bitten by the spider enters it. This hole is covered with manure and the people participating begin a dance all around the hole that is considered to be healing for the victim. This tradition seems to be related to the tradition of the tarantella dance from the south of Italy, that is also meant to heal those bitten by the tarantella.

• RALLY ACROPOLIS

The world famous rally event included till 2013 an itinerary that started from Kefalari and which had Velina as its finishing point. It is said that this part of the track is one of the most beautiful of the whole event.

• GHIORGOS RAFTOPOULOS

Ghiorgos Raftopoulos was born in Velina. He studied Political Science and Sociology. He became Secretary General and then President of General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), a member of presidium for the International Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), member of the European Economic and Social Committee and an elected Member of the European Parliament, particularly active as a vice president for the Parliamentary Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media, and the Committee on Development and Cooperation and Petitions. He also served as a Secretary General for the Department of the islands of the Ionian Sea.

He has written books of political and historical interest, based upon his experience of politics and syndicalism, as well as fiction.

• DAMIANOS PANOU

Father Damianos Panou was born in Velina in 1977. He studied in the Patriarchal School of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem in 1995 and then became a member the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher. We was ordained into deaconry in the Patriarchal Chancellery of the Holy Sepulcher. In 1998 he served as an abbot in the Holy Monastery of St George in Lydda where he was ordained as an Archimandrite.

He contributed significantly to the renovation and improvement of the historical church of St George. He served there for 3 years before moving to the Holy Monastery of St George in Kerak in Jordan. In 2006, by appointment of the Holy Synod, he returned to Athens to study in the Faculty of Theology in Athens. He finished his studies in 2008 and was ordained an Exarch (a representative of the Jerusalem Patriarch) of the Holy Sepulcher in Athens.