Lixouri is the main town on the Paliki peninsula and the second largest town in Kefalonia after Argostoli. The elevation of the city is zero.
The ancient city of Pali is already mentioned by Herodotus and Pausanias. It was a traditional maritime ally of ancient Corinth and a place of ancient and uninterrupted agricultural production. She participated in the Persian Wars by responding to the nationwide call that preceded the battle of Plataea by sending two hundred hoplites who were under Pausanias and fought against the Sakas and the Indians.
In addition to her contribution, she is mentioned again for the stubborn and victorious defense she put up against her siege by the Macedonian army of Philip V and her tactics to wear him down to the point of desertion, by dispersing and exploiting dissensions in the enemy's army combined with frequent raids. Along with Sami, which was not surrendered but fought, besieged and beaten by the Romans, they are the only Kefallinian cities that we meet in history (apart from Homeric prehistory as is the case with the rest of Kefallinia).

Just a few hundred meters south of it, during the Middle Ages, Lixouri was founded by residential movement, which was first mentioned as a toponym in a letter to the senate of Venice in 1534. It is also mentioned that in 1583 the population of Lixouri was 581 inhabitants. As early as the 16th century, Lixouri acquires the character of an organized society and becomes a shipping and trade center.

As a result of the ever-increasing economic strength and greater communication with European intellectual centers, especially neighboring Italy, the new city became a modern and remarkable intellectual center which produced the following centuries of personalities who showed themselves in letters and sciences. Around 1800 it was the largest and most important administrative center of Kefalonia with trade, shipping, various services and secular life.
The political decision for the gradual administrative promotion of the then small Argostoli was the starting point of a great controversy with the Venetian, French and also British administration that existed over the years, but mainly the residents of the two cities themselves.

In 1758, when the administration of the island was to be transferred from the fortress of Agios Georgios to Argostoli, which had just begun to be inhabited, the inhabitants of Lixouri protested and demanded that their city be recognized as the capital of Kefallinia, as it had already developed into a thriving city with all the advantages befitting a modern city, and disadvantages the lack of a safe harbor and the relatively longer distance from the rest of the island.

Despite the arguments of each side, the decision of the Venetian State was final: Argostoli was designated as the new capital, which began to grow rapidly. Many public buildings and houses were built, especially from the time of the British Protectorate. The people of Lixouri did not want to accept this situation, and violent reactions often broke out.

In 1799, it was decided to establish a Court of First Instance and Health in Lixouri, but this decision was opposed by Argostoli, which reacted, so after several diplomatic episodes with the sending of representatives from the two cities of the island to the Senate of Corfu and the failure to reach an agreement, the anti-jealousy reaches its climax and in 1808 a Lixouriot ship cannonades Argostoli.

The people of Lixouri revolted and were ready to turn against the central administration in Argostoli. French repression soldiers immediately arrived in Lixouri. However, the Lixouriites were determined to activate their decisions, resulting in the formation of the French for attack by the leader of the guard. During the riot that followed, the rebels began to retreat while the leaders of the rebellion were arrested.

While they were waiting to be arraigned as prisoners, the trial was canceled because in the meantime the island fell into the hands of new conquerors. New bloody episodes and riots were also called upon to face the then young up-and-coming politician Ioannis Kapodistrias (who was later appointed to be the first Governor of liberated Greece after the revolution of 1821), in his first difficult mission entrusted to him by the foreign Embassy.

He suppressed the riots with a show of iron fist and executions of first-timers. Another revolution took place in 1848 against the British, where persecutions and hangings also followed.

The Venetian administration lasted from 1500 until 1797, when the Venetian Republic was overthrown by Napoleon the Great so that it came under French occupation.
However, after 20 months at the end of 1778 following the victory of the Russian Turks against the French, Lixouri (like the rest of the island) came under the rule of the Russian Turks who in 1800 recognized the tax vassalage, of course, "independent" State of the Ionian Islands. Military operations brought the French back to the island in 1807.

In 1809, the British occupied the island, after the French first offered a weak resistance using cannons in the port of Lixouri. In the 19th century, the area was a stop for various tourists in the Ionian Islands, such as Johann Strauss who visited it at least twice. In 1864 the Ionian State ("United States" of the Ionian Islands under English "protection") unites with the Kingdom of Greece, and the capital of the Prefecture of Kefallinia becomes Argostoli.

In 1867 and 1953 Lixouri was destroyed by earthquakes. Historic buildings from that time are few and far between, and are examples of a thriving small town of the 18th and 19th centuries.