Why go
The Serbian memorial on Vido and the name Blue Tomb make the island's First World War role tangible. The later Corfu Incident shows how the same strategic island remained exposed to international conflict even after the war ended. These events gave the harbour and island an international significance.
The full story
During the First World War, Allied ships brought members of the retreating Serbian army to Corfu. Many arrived exhausted and ill after the campaign in the Balkans. Large numbers died on the island, and many were buried at sea near Vido, the small island by Corfu's harbour. Serbian memory calls those waters the Blue Tomb, a name associated with a poem by Milutin Bojić. The monument on Vido expresses gratitude to Greece for providing refuge. This history turns a view across the harbour into more than a coastal scene. In 1923, after Italian officials were killed during a border mission near Greece and Albania, Italy bombarded and occupied Corfu. The diplomatic crisis became known as the Corfu Incident and was settled through international negotiations. The two episodes have different causes, but together they show how Corfu's position placed it within European crises well beyond the island itself.