I Swiftly Learnt my Letters in Latin and Greek

In the time of Venetian rule, priests and lay teachers undertook to educate young people on the island. Greek and Latin-Italian schools operated in the town, offering a substantial number of Cretans the opportunity to obtain a bilingual education.

From my early youth I sat at school, my Dear,

And swiftly learnt my letters in Latin and Greek

(Leonardo Dellaporta, in: Nikolaos A. Panayiotakis, Education under Venetian Rule, Crete: History and Culture, Association of Cretan Municipality and Community Local Unions - Vikelaia Municipal Library 1988, vol. II, p. 168 - in Greek)

From the late 14^th century onwards, Cretan intellectuals and students went to Italian universities to continue their education. A sizeable number of them, such as Markos Moussouros and Dimitrios Damilas won fame in European cities as university teachers and men of letters.

This blossoming of culture is reflected in the establishment and operation of academies in the island's three largest towns. The first of these was the Vivi Academy, founded in Rethymnon in 1652, followed over the ensuing decades by the Stravaganti Academy in Chandax, circa 1590, and the Sterili Academy, opened in Chania in 1637.