Abandoned settlements and their rescue is an issue that has greatly occupied the scientific community in Greece and internationally. The abandonment of a building or a set of buildings occurs in every period of time and is accompanied by various social phenomena which are of particular interest. The aim of this study is to investigate this phenomenon through the study of two ruined settlements on the island of Kefallinia, which have been abandoned by the catastrophic earthquake of 1953 that destroyed almost the entire island and today  are in danger of extinction.

The first part of this paper analyzes the concept of the ruin and other related concepts. Then, regarding the specific geographical and historical context, an analysis is made of the causes that lead to the ruin of a settlement, as well as the process by which a settlement is abandoned. In the second part, the two settlements are presented with the aid of the existing references but also through the field research, interviews, photographic and cartographic material.  For the two settlements, ways of their rescue and utilization have been proposed, which are presented and evaluated. The purpose of this comparative analysis is to draw conclusions regarding the attitude we have to take towards such cases of ruined settlements.