Spili (officially: Spilion) is a traditional mountain village and the seat of the community of the same name, as well as the seat of the Municipality of Agios Vasilios and the former province of the same name in the Regional Unit of Rethymno, Crete.
Its name derives from the many cave-like hollows and small caves found on Mount Vorizi, where traces of ancient trails can be seen. The village church, which also serves as the metropolitan cathedral, is dedicated to the Apostle Paul.

According to some theories, Spili appears to have existed as a settlement as early as the Second Byzantine Period. In 1577, in a survey by the Venetian Barozzi, the settlement is mentioned as being divided into two areas, Spili Epodes and Spili Pera. According to data from an Ottoman land registry compiled shortly after 1670, Spili had 62 landowners at that time.

In 1879, it was incorporated into the municipality of Koxare in the province of Agios Vasilios and later became the capital of the municipality of Lampi as well as of the province of Agios Vasilios, while during the revolution of 1889, the rebels set fire to the village’s magistrate’s court and notary’s office.[12] In 1899, a two-grade elementary school opened for the first time. Nikolaos Louloudakis was appointed the first president of the local community in 1926.