All about Zakynthos
The first inhabitants were liberated from the region of Catania (Liberi da Catania), [eastern Sicily, almost opposite Zakynthos]. When they landed in Zakynthos [then under Venetian Rule] they were ordered by the Venetians to head for the great mountain (the Brahion). They climbed there alone (without an escort) and settled in the middle of the mountain range, where they built their houses and a church dedicated to Saint Leo, the bishop and later patron saint of Catania.
The village was not given an 'official' name from the beginning, since it was established without the presence of a Venetian and without the drawing up of a land register (as can be seen from the events that followed).
The Venetians initially noted that the Liberi da Catania had been sent to the area, designating the site, and when they later intervened to sort things out, they accepted the name of Saint Leo, in honour of the settlers. It is also indicative that these settlers took and retained the double surname Liberi da Catania from their new legal status of liberation and their place of origin, since before, as serfs, they had no surnames.
As predicted, the Venetians sent former serfs of Catania to the mountains and did not count (from the beginning) the extent of their jurisdiction. In the following period they continued to send settlers to the area. And the most important expedition seems to have been the large group from the Messinian village of Basta (Vasta), after the fall of the castle of Koroni in 1534.
On a nearby hill, there is the church of the village's patron saint, Saint Leontas, dedicated to the homonymous Bishop of Sicily (San Leone Vescovo di Catania). It is located at an altitude of about 350 metres, at the foot of Mount Brachionas.
Around the village there was a fairly large pine forest, which after a large fire on 26 August 2011 was burnt to the ground. The fire reached very close to a residential area without causing any other damage. The forest landscape has regenerated due to the high soil moisture.
