Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Otranto was Italy's main port to the East for 1000 years and suffered a brutal history.
There are fanciful tales that King Minos was here and St Peter is supposed to have celeb-
rated the first Western Mass here.
A more definite historical event is the Sack of Otranto in 1480, when 18,000 Turks led
by Ahmet Pasha besieged the town. The townsfolk were able to hold the Turks at bay for
15 days before capitulating. Eight hundred survivors were subsequently led up the nearby
Minerva hill and beheaded for refusing to convert.
Today the only fright you'll get is the summer crush on Otranto's scenic beaches and in
its narrow streets.
Sights
Cathedral
( 0836 80 27 20; Piazza Basilica; 8am-noon daily, plus 3-7pm Apr-Sep, 3-5pm Oct-Mar)
This
cathedral was built by the Normans in the 11th century, though it's been given a few
facelifts since. On the floor is a vast 12th-century mosaic of a stupendous tree of life bal-
anced on the back of two elephants. It was created by a young monk called Pantaleone
(who had obviously never seen an elephant), whose vision of heaven and hell encom-
passed an amazing (con)fusion of the classics, religion and plain old superstition, includ-
ing Adam and Eve, Diana the huntress, Hercules, King Arthur, Alexander the Great, and a
menagerie of monkeys, snakes and sea monsters. Don't forget to look up; the cathedral
also boasts a beautiful wooden coffered ceiling.
It's amazing that the cathedral survived at all, as the Turks stabled their horses here
when they beheaded the martyrs of Otranto on a stone preserved in the altar of the chapel
(to the right of the main altar). This
Cappella Mortiri
(Chapel of the Dead) is a ghoulishly
fascinating sight, with the skulls and bones of the martyrs arranged in neat patterns in sev-
en tall glass cases.
CATHEDRAL
CASTLE
Castello Aragonese Otranto
(
www.castelloaragoneseotranto.it
; Piazza Castello; adult/child €2/free; 10am-1pm & 3-5pm Oct-Mar,
10am-1pm & 3-7pm Apr-May, 10am-1pm & 3-10pm Jun & Sep, 10am-midnight Aug)
This squat thick-
walled fort, with the Charles V coat of arms above the entrance, has great views from the
ramparts. There are some faded original murals and original cannonballs on display.
Chiesa di San Pietro
CHURCH
