Also known as The Gateway to the East, Otranto is a tourist town in Apulia, in the Province of Lecce, situated on the easternmost point of the Salento Peninsula, the ‘heel’ of Italy, which connects the Adriatic and Ionian Seas in the heart of the Mediterranean.
Otranto is a town of art and the neighbouring town is Lecce known as the Florence of the south'.

A Brief History

Otranto was a Greek colony which, in 281 BC, became subject to Roman rule; the Roman troops left from its port to venture East as described by numerous Latin writers. When the Roman Empire was divided, Otranto became a base for the officials of Constantinople, and the town became ever more important, to the point where, in the 4th century, Japigia, Messapia, Salento, and Calabria were collectively given the name Terra d’Otranto (Land of Otranto).
Otranto was a stronghold of Catholic civilization, resisting Turkish invasion on many occasions.
In 1480 the Turks besieged the city, and after 80 days of bloodshed the Turkish expedition commander Achmet Pascià gathered 800 men and made them choose between embracing the Muslin faith or decapitation; the 800 men chose death. Their relics are contained in 7 great cabinets, in the apse of Otranto Cathedral, where the great rock used by the invaders for the decapitation is also kept. In 1481, Otranto was liberated by Ferdinand of Aragon who then fortified it. The whole system of defence was altered by Napoleon’s troops in the early 19th century.

Consecrated in 1088, the CATHEDRAL has a Romanesque-Gothic front with a Renaissance rosette and a Baroque portal. In it, there is the beautiful mosaic floor created in 1163-1165 with an incomparable artistic-historic value.

The S.PIETRO-BYZANTINE CHURCH (X-XII century) is in the heart of the old town. It is one of the few remaining monuments of its kind left in Italy. Its Byzantine frescoes and its Greek-cross plane have great historic value. Built on the day after the liberation of Otranto in 1481, the ARAGONESE CASTLE rises above the former Norman, Byzantine and Greek fortifications; with its pentagonal plane, it preserves the nearly intact defensive system, made of towers, moats and walls.

ST.FRANCESCO’s CHURCH ON THE MINERVA’s HILL (XVII century) is the centre that radiates the religious and civil history of Otranto. This church was built thanks to the pity of some believers and it was consecrated to the Martyrs of Otranto, as a memorial to their faith, and to those who met their deaths in 1480.

ST.GIOVANNI’s CAVES (XII century) are a group of “caves” later utilized even as a hypogeous oil-mill.

THE HYPOGEUM OF TORREPINTA with its hypogeous structure presents a 33 metre mooring post.

THE ANCIENT SUBURB Notwithstanding the building expansion, the historical centre is still intact. The paved quick-stone roads are narrow and wind among the white houses. Walking through the suburb, especially in the days when Mistral insinuates itself among the alleys, it is possible to hear the history of Otranto, with its invasions, resistances and … love for this town.

THE COAST AND THE SEA The coast is long and varied and, if leaving from the North white beaches, one can arrive at the South coasts which are high and rocky; the scenery is picturesque and suggestive thanks to promontories. The sea, turquoise and uncontaminated, assumes a more intense tonality towards the South. Towards Northern coast, FRASSANITO presents thin cobbled paving hidden by a pine-wood, which in turn arrives at the large and marvellous ALIMINI beach.

Going on, you arrive at TURK’S BAY, a series of little mortise that hide beaches which in the past functioned as landing-escape points.

WATER-MILL is a series of little caves and one with the tumbled vault.

MONACA CAVE is a little cave which, in days gone by, contained a nun-shaped stalagmite.

THE WHITE LIGHTHOUSE signifies the entrance to the port and, behind it, there is the SNAKE TOWER which guards a steep coast that goes down to the great ORTE BAY (from Ortor, where the sun rises).

Here the CAPE OF OTRANTO rises with its lighthouse and, going on towards the South, we arrive at PORTO BADISCO where, according to the great poet Virgil, Enea landed.

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