The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis Mesolongiou (Greek: Ιερά Πόλις Μεσολογγίου, lit.

The Intercity Buses Of Aitoloakarnania[3] also have service towards Agrinio, Amfilochia, Astakos, Volos, Vonitsa, Thessaloniki, Lamia, Larisa, Livadeia, Mitikas, Patras, Chalkida and the capital Athens.

The modern settlement of Missolonghi was first mentioned by a Venetian called Paruta when he was describing the naval Battle of Lepanto, which took place nearby.

[7] When the Greek War of Independence broke out in spring 1821, Missolonghi was the first place in western Greece to join the uprising, on 20 May 1821,[8] under the leadership of the town notables, chiefly Athanasios Razikotsikas, Panos Papaloukas, and A. Kapsalis.

With rumours of Greek successes in the Morea and eastern Greece spreading throughout April, most of the Turkish families of the town had already evacuated to nearby Vrachori, where there was a strong Ottoman military presence.

Missolonghi was soon reinforced by the klepht chieftain Dimitrios Makris, who immediately occupied the nearby island of Anatoliko; there too, the few Turks abandoned the town without resistance and made for Vrachori.

[10] Coming from Marseilles, Alexandros Mavrokordatos landed in the town in July, and made it the base of his attempts to form his own power-base in western Greece, independent of the authority of Dimitrios Ypsilantis in the Morea.

[11] On 4 November, Mavrokordatos and his political allies convened an assembly of regional representatives in the town, which established a separate governing body, the "Senate of Western Continental Greece".

A 7,000-8,000 strong Ottoman army under Omer Vryonis and Mehmed Reshid Pasha laid siege to the city on 25 October 1822.

After a year of relentless enemy attacks and facing starvation, the people of Missolonghi decided to leave the beleaguered city in the "Exodus of its Guards" (The Sortie) on the night of 10 April 1826.

The famous British poet and philhellene Lord Byron, who supported the Greek struggle for independence, died in Missolonghi in 1824.

The mansion of the Trikoupis family, Palamas' House, Valvios Library, Christos and Sophia Moschandreou Gallery of Modern Art emphasize the fact that Missolonghi has always been a city of some wealth and refinement.