Peristera lies athwart the eastern coast of Alonnisos. The islet’s successive names Xero (‘dry’, ‘barren’), Sarakiniko (‘of the Saracens or pirates’) and Perisitera (‘doves’) suc cinctly describe its geography, its history and its unusual shape respectively. The waters of the island were the site of the discovery of the earliest and largest, 5th century bc, shipwrecked vessel found in the Aegean—located in the late 1980s and first systematically examined in 1991. The Athenian trade-vessel, carrying a cargo of several thousand amphorae of wine from Macedonia, Alonnisos and Skopelos, as well as a considerable quantity of Attic pottery, measured approximately 30 x 10m, with an estimated weight of 150 tons.
Peristera Island is part of the Lesser Sporades Island Group, Greece.