Where (exactly) was Ithaca (the city)?

Odysseus' realm, Ithaca, has now been conclusively identified as Paliki, the peninsula that is attached to Kefalonia.

[Ulysses Landing At Ithaca By John Linnell]

But where should we start to dig if we want to find the remains of Ithaca, the actual city and the location of the palace?

Taking Homer's 'Odyssey' as our guidebook, we can find enough clues that enable us to pinpoint the location of the settlement.

Remember, in those days, the Mediterranean was a perilous place. Pirates (or displaced people) roamed the sea and were attacking settlements. As a result these settlements were never built directly onto the seashore, but were largely hidden in the mountainous terrain to protect its inhabitants from these raids. Also, lookouts were continuously scanning the sea to see if danger was approaching.

If we follow Butler's translation, BOOK XIII (ULYSSES LEAVES SCHERIA AND RETURNS TO ITHACA) gives an impression of the location where Odysseus first came ashore on his beloved Ithaca: “This is the haven of the old merman Phorcys, and here is the olive tree that grows at the head of it; [near it is the cave sacred to the Naiads; here too is the overarching cavern in which you have offered many an acceptable hecatomb to the nymphs, and this is the wooded mountain Neritum.”

Both the cavern, and mount Neriton are located on the eastern shore of the Argostliou Gulf, the bay that separates Paliki from Kefalonia. In the Odyssey, ἄντρον (ántron), is invariably translated as 'cave', but can also mean 'cavity' or 'hollow', which perfectly describes a sinkhole.

If Ithaca, the settlement, was situated on Paliki, on the western side of the Gulf of Argostoli or Kólpos Argostolíou (Κόλπος Αργοστολίου), he would surely been set ashore on that slab of land. Landing on the eastern shore, but needing to be on the western shore would mean an enormous detour. This leads us to the conclusion that Ithaca cannot be found on Paliki proper.

From the next chapter of the Oddyssey, BOOK XIV (ULYSSES IN THE HUT WITH EUMAEUS), we learn that Odysseus needed to walk along the foothills of Mount Neriton where he spends the night with his old friend Eumaeus, the swineherd.

[The southern shore of the isthmus]

But then, lastly, we should also remember the well-known description of Ithaca which was 'sea-girt' (apereísios or ἀπερείσῐος) as in 'And if we should return to sea-girt Ithaca, our dear fatherland,...' and 'May the son of Cronos never make thee king in sea-girt Ithaca...'

Therefore, Ithaca can never be an island (nesos or νῆσος), because an island is 'surrounded by sea'. A girt (or girth) is a belt. Sea-girt gives us the impression of 'sea on both sides of the land'.

That fact can help us to finally locate Ithaca and therefore also the palace of Odysseus: on the almost three kilometers wide isthmus that connects Paliki to Kefalonia.