Skorpios or Scorpios ( el, Σκορπιός, ) is a private island in the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including ...

off the western coast of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

and just to the east of the island of

Lefkada Lefkada ( el, Λευκάδα, ''Lefkáda'', ), also known as Lefkas or Leukas ( Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Λευκάς, ''Leukás'', modern pronunciation ''Lefkás'') and Leucadia, is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of G ...

. The 2011 census reported a population of five inhabitants. Administratively it is part of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

Meganisi Meganisi (Greek: Μεγανήσι, literally "big island") is a Greek island and municipality immediately to the east-southeast of the island of Lefkada. The municipality includes the offshore islands of Skorpios (pop. 2 persons) and Sparti. The ...

in Lefkada regional unit.

Geography

The island, spanning 83.2 hectares (205 acres), is irregularly shaped, with main axes about 1500 meters and 1000 meters. It is heavily forested from south to north and features over 200 varieties of trees imported to the once nearly barren island by

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; el, Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotélis Onásis, ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), was a Greek-Argentinian shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and wa ...

. There are some sandy beaches, most notably East Beach, which was created by Onassis, who brought sand from

Salamis Island Salamis ( ; el, Σαλαμίνα, Salamína; grc, label= Ancient and Katharevousa, Σαλαμίς, Salamís) is the largest Greek island in the Saronic Gulf, about off-coast from Piraeus and about west of central Athens. The chief city, S ...

for this purpose. It is home to three residences, a helicopter landing pad and a boat quay. Onassis also built harbor facilities in the bay on the north side for his ''

Christina O ''Christina O'' is a private motor yacht that once belonged to billionaire Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis. At 99.13 metres long, she is the 59th largest yacht in the world as of 2022. History The boat originally served as a Canadian anti-sub ...

'' yacht. The island water comes from a mountain from a nearby island which is estimated to cost about 100 million euros.

History

Skorpios is primarily known as the private island of the late Greek

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

billionaire

. It was bought in 1963 and believed to have cost him the equivalent of about €11,000 of today's money (2015). Numerous high profile parties were hosted during the time of Aristotle Onassis. Skorpios was also the site of his wedding to former

United States First Lady The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has nev ...

Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A p ...

on October 20, 1968. In 1971,

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A p ...

was photographed nude by an Italian paparazzo on a Skorpios beach. Upon Onassis's death the island was passed to his daughter Christina, and then in turn to her daughter

Athina Onassis Athina Hélène Onassis ( el, Αθηνά Ωνάση; born Athina Hélène Roussel ( el, Αθηνά Ρουσσέλ), 29 January 1985) is a French-Greek heiress and equestrian, the only surviving descendant of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle O ...

, the only surviving heir. Onassis, his son Alexander, and his daughter Christina are all buried on the island.

Rybolovlev long term lease

In April 2013 through her trust, Ekaterina Rybolovleva, the 24-year-old daughter of Dmitry Rybolovlev, bought a group of companies from Athina Onassis for $153 million. The assets included a long term lease to Skorpios and its smaller islet, Sparti. Beginning in October 2018 and with a completion date of 2020, Rybolovleva began developing a luxury resort on Skorpios for a total investment estimated at €184 million. The island is a Natura 2000 protected area with no more than 5% of its area to be developed. The Greek government is yet to confirm the legality of the purchase. An investigation is underway, as Giannis Mihelakis (a New Democracy MP) raised the question in the Greek parliament. Specifically, Onassis stated in his will that the island would remain in the family as long as they could afford to cover its maintenance expenses. According to the will, if his descendants could not cover the expenses, the island would be donated either to the now defunct

Olympic Airlines Olympic Airlines ( el, Ολυμπιακές Αερογραμμές, ''Olympiakés Aerogrammés'' – OA), formerly named Olympic Airways for at least four decades, was the flag carrier airline of Greece. The airline's head office was located ...

or to the state.

References

External links

Skorpios on GTP Travel Pages
(in English and Greek)
Official website of Municipality of Meganisi
{{Ionian Islands Islands of Greece Islands of the Ionian Islands (region) Private islands of Greece Onassis family Landforms of Lefkada (regional unit) Aristotle Onassis