Otranto

Otranto
Comune
Comune di Otranto
Beachfront of Otranto
Coat of arms
Otranto Location of Otranto in Italy
Coordinates: 40°09′N 18°29′E / 40.150°N 18.483°E / 40.150; 18.483
Country	Italy
Region	Apulia
Province	Lecce (LE)
Frazioni	Porto Badisco, Conca Spellucchia
Government
• Mayor	Luciano Cariddi
Area
• Total	76 km2 (29 sq mi)
Elevation	15 m (49 ft)
Population (December 2013)
• Total	5,670
• Density	75/km2 (190/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Idruntini or Otrantini
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	73028
Dialing code	0836
Patron saint	Blessed Otrantine Martyrs
Saint day	August 14
Website	Official website

Otranto (Italian pronunciation: [ˈɔːtranto]; Latin: Hydruntum) is a town and comune in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), in a fertile region once famous for its breed of horses.

It is located on the east coast of the Salento peninsula. The Strait of Otranto, to which the city gives its name, connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. The harbour is small and has little trade.

The lighthouse Faro della Palascìa, at approximately 5 kilometres (3 miles) southeast of Otranto, marks the most easterly point of the Italian mainland.

About 50 kilometres (31 mi) south lies the promontory of Santa Maria di Leuca (so called since ancient times from its white cliffs, leukos being Greek for white), the southeastern extremity of Italy, the ancient Promontorium lapygium or Sallentinum. The district between this promontory and Otranto is thickly populated and very fertile.

History

The fortress

Historic map of Otranto by Piri Reis.

Otranto occupies the site of the ancient Hydrus (in Greek: Ὑδροῦς) or Hydruntum (in Latin), also known as Hydrunton, Hydronton, or Hydruntu. Otranto was a town of Greek origin, which, in the wars of Pyrrhus and of Hannibal sided against Rome.

In Roman times it was a city. As it is the nearest port to the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, it was perhaps more important than Brundisium (present Brindisi), under the Roman emperors as a point of embarkation for the East, as the distance to Apollonia was less than from Brundisium.

In the 8th century, it was for some time in the possession of duke Arechis II of Benevento. It remained in the hands of the Byzantine emperors until it was among the last cities of Apulia to surrender to the Norman Robert Guiscard in 1068, and then became part of the Principality of Taranto. In the Middle Ages the Jews had a school there.

Ottoman Invasion

Skulls of "Martyrs of Otrano" on display in Otranto cathedral.

In 1480, Mehmet the Conqueror sent an Ottoman Turkish fleet to invade Rome under the command of Gedik Ahmed Pasha. This force reached the shores of Apulia on 28 July 1480 and the city was captured in two weeks on 11 August 1480. Some 800 citizens, known as the "Martyrs of Otranto," were beheaded allegedly after refusing to convert to Islam. Although these people were canonized by Pope Francis on 12 May 2013, contemporary accounts by both Turkish and Italian chroniclers fail to make any mention of martyrdom and the story is doubted by modern historians.^[1]

Between August and September of 1480, the Italian and European kingdoms failed to help King Ferdinand of Naples, except his cousin Ferdinand the Catholic, the Kingdom of Sicily and, later, the Republic of Genoa.^[2] In 1481, the Pope, in panic, called for a crusade to be led by King Ferdinand of Naples, and was joined by troops of Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus. The Turks controlled the city for 13 months. Mehmet II died on his way to capture the rest of Italy.^[3] His successor, Bayezid II, ordered Gedik Ahmed Pasha to be hanged and on 11 September 1481 the Turks abandoned the city.

In 1537, the famous Turkish corsair and Ottoman admiral Barbarossa recaptured Otranto and the Fortress of Castro, but the Turks were again repulsed from the city and from the rest of Apulia.

Napoleonic Wars

In 1804, the city was obliged to harbour a French garrison that was established there to watch the movements of the English fleet. Under the French name of Otrante it was created a duché grand-fief de l'Empire in the Napoleonic kingdom of Naples for Joseph Fouché, Napoleon's minister of Police (1809), the grandfather of Margareta Fouché. The family used the title of duc d'Otrante after Joseph Fouché's death.

Sea front

Climate

Otranto experiences a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa) like much of Italy.

Main sights

The Cathedral of Otranto

Torre Sant'Emiliano, not far from the Palascìa lighthouse

The harbor of Otranto seen from the historic center

Otranto main sights include:

• The Castello Aragonese (Castle), reinforced by Emperor Frederick II and rebuilt by Alphonso II of Naples in 1485–98. It has an irregular plan with five sides, with a moat running along the entire perimeter. In origin it had a single entrance, reachable through a draw-bridge. Towers include three cylindrical ones and a bastion called Punta di Diamante ("Diamond's Head"). The entrance sports the coat of arms of Emperor Charles V.
• The Cathedral, consecrated in 1088, a work of Count Roger I adorned later (about 1163), by Bishop Jonathas, with a mosaic floor; it has a rose window and side portal of 1481. The interior, a basilica with nave and two aisles, contains columns said to come from a temple of Minerva and a fine mosaic pavement of 1166, with interesting representations of the months, Old Testament subjects and others. Bones and relics of the Martyrs of Otranto, who perished in the 15th-century siege surround the high altar. The church has a crypt supported by 42 marble columns. The same Count Roger also founded a Basilian monastery here, which, under Abbot Nicetas, became a place of study; its library was nearly all bought by Bessarion.
• The church of San Pietro, with Byzantine frescoes.
• The catacombs of Torre Pinta.
• Idro, a small river which the toponym Otranto stems from.

Culture

Otranto is the setting of Horace Walpole's book, The Castle of Otranto, which is generally held to be the first Gothic novel. It is also mentioned in Bram Stoker's novel The Lady of the Shroud.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Otranto is twinned with:

• Sarandë, Albania

See also

• Bishopric of Otranto
• Otranto Tragedy
• Ottoman invasion of Otranto

Sources and references

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Otranto". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Otranto". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton. 
• Heraldica.org- Napoleonic
• GigaCatholic

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Otranto.

• archdiocsan website (Italian)
• Adrian Fletcher’s Paradoxplace – Otranto Cathedral Mosaics Photo Page
• Otrano Video in English

References