Otranto
Otranto, an ideal destination for all ages, with opportunities for recreation and relaxation to suit all tastes and needs.
Otranto, located between the Idro Valley and the Adriatic Sea, was for many centuries the political, cultural, and commercial center of Salento, which continues to be known as Terra d'Otranto. Its origins and name date back to the first Magna Graecia colonization, which made this city, the easternmost in Italy, a bridge between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean. Before the Turks razed it to the ground (1480), Otranto played a role of primary importance in the history of Southern Italy, especially during the Middle Ages and the Crusades and in the long periods of struggle between the Papacy and the Empire, between the Byzantines, Goths and Lombards, and then in the Norman era (evidence of this remains in the grandiose Swabian and Angevin Cathedral until the arrival of the Aragonese). Traces of the landscape of all these civilizations remain in the city, more or less evident, especially in the works of art. In addition to an invaluable artistic heritage, Otranto is fortunate to enjoy an exceptionally mild climate in almost all months of the year.
The Old City
Despite the rapid construction boom, the city's historic center, of incomparable beauty, has remained virtually intact. The streets, paved with natural stone and all converging toward the cathedral in a compact architectural layout, are narrow and wind in serpentines between the whitewashed houses. Within the city, a life still pulsates, echoing millennia, in an incessant dialogue between towers and bastions, made more vibrant on days when the east or north winds weave through the narrow streets, chasing each other ceaselessly and further smoothing the huge granite balls catapulted by the Turkish bombards in 1480 and left there, on the edge of the coves, a reminder of a history more glorious than any noble weapon.
The Cathedral
The Cathedral, dedicated to Santa Maria Annunziata, was built in the 12th century on the site of previous settlements dating back to the Messapian, Roman, and early Christian periods.
Consecrated on August 1, 1088, by Papal Legate Roffredo, under the papacy of Urban II, it is the largest cathedral in Salento. The façade, with two gabled sides and two single-lancet windows, features a Renaissance rose window in the center, rebuilt by Archbishop Serafino da Squillace following the city's liberation from Turkish rule, which lasted 300 days from 1480 to 1481, during which time the Cathedral was converted into a mosque.
Basilica-like with a Latin cross plan (53 meters long and 25 meters wide), it is divided into three naves by 14 marble columns with capitals, abacuses, and echinuses, surmounted by arches. It has a large bema and three semicircular apses. In 1482, the right apse was enlarged to create the Chapel of the Martyrs of Otranto.
The trussed roof is covered by a gilded coffered ceiling commissioned by Archbishop Francesco Maria De Aste, along with a triumphal Baroque arch and the display of the remains of the Holy Martyrs of Otranto in seven marble shrines.
Il Mosaico
The mosaic floor, created between 1163 and 1165, during the reign of William the Bad, was commissioned by Archbishop Gionata and bears the signature of the priest Pantaleone. It is the only intact Norman mosaic floor in Italy and features a gigantic arbor vitae, a veritable medieval summa translated into images.
Inside, one can observe allegorical figures such as the Ascension of Alexander the Great and King Arthur, Old Testament themes such as the Tower of Babel, the Great Flood, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, a medieval calendar, Hell, and Heaven.
"His intention is to reproduce in images what his brothers taught and studied in his monastery," writes Don Grazio Gianfreda. "It reveals that East and West are a distinction necessitated by time and history; that they do not represent the clash of two cultures, but rather the compendium of a single culture that is able to maintain its identity even through the changes imposed by events." Pantaleone represents the historical moment in Drunden, those years where two religions, Christian and Jewish, coexisted, and where different cultures coexisted.
The mosaic was created with polychrome tesserae made of very hard local limestone. The style is Romanesque, with some Byzantine elements.
The mosaic work extends along the central nave, the side aisles, the apse, and the presbytery.
Pantaleone wanted to symbolize the human drama in the struggle between good and evil, between virtue and vice. "The mosaic must be read, or rather leafed through, page after page, carefully," Don Grazio tells us, as if it were a great stone book. In the central nave stands a towering "tree of life," whose branches alternate with characters of every kind: biblical, mythological, historical, animals, angels, devils, monstrous creatures.
In the Old Testament, this tree symbolized the Immortality of God. "Everything originates from the tree," writes Don Grazio; "the tree is the root, the source of every manifestation of life." Here, we can clearly see King Arthur, Cain and Abel, the months and the zodiac, the Tower of Babel, Diana and the wounded deer, the Chessboard of Being, Alexander the Great on two winged griffins, the two great elephants supporting the tree, and so on. Pantaleone's Presbytery has depicted the entire history of humanity, beginning with Adam and Eve's temptation in Eden. It continues with the depiction of ten wheels containing images of the bestiary, and finally, four medallions depicting the Queen of Sheba, King Solomon, the Siren, the Leopard, and the Ram. The apse features the story of the prophet Jonah.
Along the upper part, then, are portrayed the boar hunt, probably representing the fight between Christians and Satan, and Samson, symbol of the victorious Christ.
Certainly built before the 11th century, the crypt is characterized by 48 cross-vaulted bays, supported by 42 monolithic columns of rough or polished marble of various sizes and qualities, likely recovered from ancient buildings in the area.
The columns are arranged in four rows, and another 23 semi-columns are set against the perimeter walls to support the aforementioned bays.
The capitals, all of great value, feature Christian symbols and plant motifs, anthropomorphic figures, animals, and monsters.
La Cripta
Beaches and Coasts
Otranto and its beautiful beaches and coves: a spectacle waiting to be discovered.
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Northern Coast and Laghi Alimini
The most beautiful sandy beach in Otranto is located to the north, about 7 km from the city of Martyrs, and is the Baia dei Turchi beach, whose name recalls the landing of the Turkish army among these very grains of sand in 1480. Here the landscape is splendid and pristine, a Caribbean paradise with magnificent white beaches kissed by the sun, along paths that wind through a dense pine forest.
Almost bordering the Baia dei Turchi is the Spiaggia degli Alimini. Here the sand is golden and the sea is always calm thanks to the ideal geographical position, and the particularly intense light makes the waters a splendid bright turquoise color.
The Alimini Lakes are the most characteristic feature of the Otranto countryside. They are two basins with different features: the southernmost, called "Fontanelle," flows from an underground spring; its basin is in the rock, and the water is fresh; while the other, “Alimini Grande” is fed by Fontanelle through a canal called "Lu strittu".
Southern Coast
The city's port marks the division between two clearly distinct coastlines. The route extends from the white rock, dotted with evergreen shrubs, of the small Baia dell'Orte, where the old Torre del Serpe, featured on the city's coat of arms, still stands, almost defying the winds and centuries. The high, rocky coastline offers a picturesque and evocative backdrop of promontories and coves, reaching Santa Cesarea, a few kilometers away. Here, four thermal springs gush forth from caves connected to the spa facilities equipped for hydrotherapy treatments with radioactive mud, inhalations, and nebulizations. A short distance away, at the foot of the cliff that drops sheer to the sea, are the famous "Zinzulusa" and "Romanelli" caves, of particular tourist and scientific interest due to the wealth of prehistoric artifacts discovered there.