Messaria sits at the centre of the island, a few kilometres southeast of Fira and close to the airport, surrounded by vineyards rather than caldera cliffs. Its history runs deeper than most Santorini villages — records place it back to the 17th century, and through the 19th century it was the island's industrial centre, a legacy still visible in its architecture today.
The mansions
Messaria's defining feature is a cluster of grand neoclassical mansions built by wealthy merchant families during that 19th-century industrial period, most notably the Argyros Mansion (built in 1888 and now open to visitors) alongside the Saliveros and Markezinis family houses. These sit alongside older, traditional dome-roofed cave houses cut into volcanic rock — a genuinely different architectural mix from the caldera-rim villages.
The old knitting factory
The ruins of the Markezinis knitting factory, once part of the island's small industrial base, still stand in the village — a reminder that Santorini's economy wasn't always built around tourism and wine.
Why visit
Messaria suits a traveller interested in a side of Santorini beyond blue domes and caldera views, and its central location — close to the airport, Fira and Kamari — makes it a practical, often more affordable base too; see our budget hotels guide.
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