Santorini officially Thira is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km southeast from the Greek mainland. It is the largest island of a small circular archipelago, which bears the same name and is the remnant of a caldera.

The expansion of tourism in recent years has resulted in the growth of the economy and population. Santorini was ranked the world’s top island by many magazines and travel sites. An estimated 2 million tourists visit annually. In recent years, Santorini has been emphasizing sustainable development and the promotion of special forms of tourism, the organization of major events such as conferences and sport activities.

The traditional architecture of Santorini is similar to that of the other Cyclades, with low-lying cubical houses, made of local stone and whitewashed or limewashed with various volcanic ashes used as colors. These colors, in recent years, tend to replace white in the color of house façades, according to the traditional architecture of the island as it was developed until the great earthquake of 1956. The unique characteristic is the common utilization of the hypóskapha: extensions of houses dug sideways or downwards into the surrounding pumice. These rooms are prized because of the high insulation provided by the air-filled pumice, and are used as living quarters of unique coolness in the summer and warmth in the winter.