The long and narrow island of Sfaktiria is a natural breakwater for the bay of Navarino or Gulf of Pylos, and hosts, among others, the monument to the Philhellenes who fell in the battle of Sfaktiria, the tomb of the Prince Paul Maria Bonaparte, the Monument of Santa Rosa.
Sfaktiria island and Navarino Bay has been the scene of two famous battles: in 425 BC. during the Peloponnesian War, a naval battle took place in the bay between Athens and Sparta. In October 20, 1827 the naval battle of Navarino took place, where fleets English, Russian and French inflicted on the fleet turco-egyptian a defeat which would be decisive for the independence of Greece in 1832.