The book at hand is significantly original, as it attempts for the first time in literature to reconstruct the colonial policy of Venice in the Greek space and its impact on Greek society, institutions, culture, education, defense, and economy.

This holistic approach to Venetian rule is essential for a better understanding of a neglected period in our local history that lasted four centuries (1386-1797), which is longer than the Ottoman rule, and extended at times not only to the Ionian Islands but also partially to other territories of the Greek space.

Ellie Giotopoulou-Sicilianou is the President of the Maragkopoulos Foundation for Human Rights and an Emeritus Professor at the Ionian University. She obtained her degree from the History-Archaeology Department of NKUA and her doctorate from AUTH. She served as a Professor at the American College for Women (1946-1965).

In 1965, she was elected a member of the newly established Pedagogical Institute, which undertook the implementation of the Educational Reform. She conducted a series of in-service training courses in Cyprus and elsewhere. She was an expert for the Council of Europe. She remained at the Pedagogical Institute until it was abolished by the dictatorship (1967).

She served as a faculty member at the University of Crete (1979-1981). She was elected a Professor at the Ionian University in 1984, and she was a member of its Governing Committee from its establishment (1984) and its President during the period 1990-1993. She has numerous publications in Greek, French, and Italian, particularly on the period of Venetian rule, the history and art of the Renaissance, Greek scholars in the West, as well as on the Greek educational system and the teaching of History.