No lines or tourist buzz: the Cathedral is open to the public behind closed doors for an exclusive visit, reserved for a small group only, with a licensed professional guide who will allow you to savor the art and history of this sacred place.

Built between 1080 and 1088 on the ruins of a Roman domus, on the site of an earlier pre-Romanesque church, the solemn building features three naves with arches supported by granite columns with unique capitals, and a wooden coffered ceiling covering the trussed roof.

Inside is Otranto's true jewel: a floor mosaic, the largest in Europe, almost entirely preserved, commissioned by Archbishop Gionata and executed by Pantaleone from 1163 to 1165. Their names can be read among the thousands of polychrome tiles that make up the mosaic, which features the large Tree of Life at its center and, on the sides, among its branches, a multitude of allegorical figures, characters drawn from mythology, history, and the Bible. The cathedral also houses a chapel containing the remains of the eight hundred martyrs beheaded in 1480 during the Turkish conquest of the city.

 

On the exterior, the façade features a large 16-ray rose window and two windows on the sides, reminiscent of the Apulian Romanesque style, and a distinctive Baroque portal, added later, with a pair of columns on each side supporting the architrave, topped by two angels with the coat of arms of Archbishop Gabriel Adarzo de Santander in the center.

 

Duration 1:30

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