Desyllas is a village located at the foot of a mountain on the northern side of the prefecture of Messinia and has a panoramic view of the entire Messinian plain, while it is located 3.5 km from Diavolitsi and 7 km from Meligalas. Before the Greek Revolution in 1821, the village was located 1 km above the present village, in the place where the chapel of Agioi Theodoroi exists today.
In an excavation carried out in 1900 between the villages of Desyllas and Filia, two mosaics belonging to a villa of Roman times were discovered and are now on display at the Archaeological Museum of Messinia in Kalamata.
One version of its name is that it comes from a chieftain named Desyllas (who was reportedly the head of the settlement’s authorities in the late 20th century). However, there is also a version that it comes from a choban named Silla, or from the name De Silla, perhaps a commander of the area. Until 1940, the village was also known as Dusilla.
