Aristotelis Valaoritis was born in Lefkada in 1824. He was a poet strongly influenced by Romanticism and drew inspiration from the Middle Ages and the Greek Revolution of 1821. Heroic elements dominate his poetry. His verses, written in the Demotic (vernacular) language, are rough, masculine, and full of intense emotion and passion. The scenes he describes are always set in the open air.
Some of his works include Kyra Frosyni, Athanasios Diakos, Astrapogianos, and Foteinos. Foteinos, whose theme is national and drawn from the period of Frankish rule in Lefkada, remained unfinished and unedited, and was published after his death (1891).
Alongside poetry, he was also involved in politics and worked for all the national movements of his time (the Ionian Islands, Epirus, Crete). He served as a Member of Parliament and representative of Lefkada in the Ionian Parliament from 1857, belonged to the Radical Party, and fought for the Union of the Ionian Islands with Greece. Later, he became a delegate to the National Assembly in Athens and then joined Kountouriotis’ political faction. He withdrew from politics in 1869.
He died in 1879, and his grave is in Lefkada, in the courtyard of the Church of Pantokrator.
