Guided tour of the Old Town
- Feb 4
- 10 min read
Updated: Feb 6
3 hours in the heart of the city of Otranto
Our journey to discover Otranto cannot fail to begin at "Porta Terra," the entrance to the historic center. A glance to the right gives us an idea of the layout of the walls built during the Aragonese era (late 15th century).
Entering through this gate, we find ourselves in a triangular space, a sort of parade ground, built in the early decades of the second half of the 16th century.
Opposite us is the Porta Alfonsina.
Porta Alfonsina, built during the 15th century as part of the city walls, was commissioned by Alfonso of Aragon, from whom it also took its name.
It is the main gate of the Aragonese city, located opposite the Castle. It likely served as the entrance to the medieval and perhaps even Messapian citadel, as evidenced by some remains incorporated into the central gallery.
In its initial configuration, at the end of the 15th century, it consisted of two half-towers side by side, with the gate in the center and an open path leading to it.
In its earlier form, it was protected by a triangular ravelin and a moat crossed by a drawbridge.
The two half-Rondelas have similar characteristics to the corner sections of the fortified circuit, such as the Duchesca. They have a first section with a vertical wall, now hidden by the filling of the old moat (the stringcourse is actually level with the pavement of the square), a second section with a sloping base, separated by a torus from a third section with a vertical wall, from which the upper crowning protrudes, supported by corbels and blind arches.
Like the other Rondelle, Porta Alfonsina, in its initial configuration at the end of the 15th century, featured a lower upper section and was defined by battlements with slits for the arches and crossbows. This is still visible in the existing windows, originally empty between two consecutive battlements. In the early 16th century, when it was raised, the front space between the two towers was covered with a barrel vault, closed on the façade by a three-pointed arch.
Some round-holed arquebuses reveal the presence of internal spaces once essential for ground defense, now accessible only in one of the two towers.
The main façade bears the epigraph "ALFONSINA," attesting to its dedication to Alfonso I, father of King Ferrante, or to his son Alfonso II.
On the other side of the entrance was a second inscription that reads SIT VIRGO MATER FORTITUDO MEA (May the Virgin Mother be my strength).
Looking at the monument, it seems clear that some drawings from the Magliabechiano Codex by the Sienese master Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1502) were the basis for the Otranto project. Bacile di Castiglione reports the existence of an inscription, placed on the arch of the door, reading:
" FERDINANDUS REX DIVI ALPHONSI FILIUS DIVI FERDINANDI NEPOS ARAGONIUS PORTAS MUROS AC TURRES POST RECEPTUM A TURCIS OPPIDUM SUO REG. STIPENDIO E FUNDAMENTIS FACINDUM CURAVIT
TRANSLATION:
King Ferdinand of Aragon, son of the divine Alfonso, grandson of the divine Ferdinand, after reconquering the city from the Turks, oversaw the construction of gates, walls, and towers from the ground up, using his royal salary.
At the first intersection, we turn right onto Via Basilica, not without admiring the remains of a "tower house" with beautiful hanging arches at the top.
The road gradually climbs, and immediately to our left stands the imposing mass of the left side of the Cathedral, which leads to the Crypt.
The Crypt, divided into 48 quadrangular bays with cross vaults supported by 42 marble columns and 23 masonry semi-columns, is the first example of an "oratory crypt" in Apulia. Some of the columns are scavenged, as are the capitals, some of which are clearly Byzantine in origin. The figurative capitals are exceptional, such as the one with griffins or the one decorated with four figures of harpies.
The crypt walls feature 16th-century frescoes and traces of medieval decoration.
Now we can decide to climb the stairs to reach the Cathedral directly or exit the crypt and continue up the hill to the main entrance.
Exiting, opposite, on the upper side of the street, we find the tall Norman Bell Tower.
Continuing up the hill, we arrive at Piazza Basilica.
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, a period during which the Cathedral was transformed into a mosque. Built in the shape of a basilica 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, upon which arches rise. 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.
Octagonal in plan, surmounted by a "starry" vault, the Chapel houses long reliquaries containing the mortal remains of the martyrs who remained unburied and incorrupt for 13 months on the Colle della Minerva and were transferred after the liberation of 1481 to the Cathedral where, in 1482, the first version of the Chapel was built in their honor. The one we admire today is a work from 1711. Behind the altar is kept the "martyrdom stone", used for the beheading of the nineteenth century, as reported in the epigraph displayed here.
Commissioned in 1163 by Gionata, Archbishop of Otranto, the mosaic floor was executed by the monk Pantaleone. "His intention was 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 capable of preserving its identity even through the changes imposed by events."
Pantaleone represents the historical moment in Otranto, a time when two religions, Christianity and Judaism, coexisted, and where different cultures coexisted. The mosaic in the Cathedral of Otranto was created with polychrome tesserae made from very hard local limestone. The style is Romanesque, with some Byzantine elements. The mosaic extends along the central nave, the side aisles, the apse, and the presbytery. Pantaleone intended 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 same square as the Cathedral, inside Palazzo Lopez, there is the Museo Diocesano. The palace was built during the Spanish rule by the noble Lopez family. A larger building was added to the oldest part of the building, consisting of the 16th-century tower house, in the 17th century, completing the stately residence.
After years of significant and meticulous restoration work, commissioned by Bishop Donato Negro, the museum reopened its doors on July 1, 2024, under the episcopate of Bishop Francesco Neri.
The renovated exhibition, spanning three floors, showcases marvelous sculptures, precious silverware, rich textiles, ancient printed volumes, and valuable ecclesiastical furnishings.
On the left side of the Palace is the narrow street leading to the Castle.
The Castle, in its initial configuration, dating back to the late 15th century, had a quadrilateral shape (a right-angled trapezoid), with four Rondelle (circular towers) at the corners, the one facing the sea being the most prominent, as often depicted in treatises by Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
The configuration we see today is the result of constant modifications to the fortress throughout the 16th century, dictated by the continuous evolution and refinement of firearms.
It is bordered on all sides by a deep moat, which is crossed at the entrance by a bridge, now with a stone arch and wooden decking, probably originally a drawbridge.
A narrow corridor leads directly into the ground-floor atrium. Walking through it, you can see the thickening of the façade, built in the early 16th century.
All the rooms on this floor, built against the external curtain walls, have a rectangular or square plan, overlook the internal courtyard and are covered by vaulted ceilings.
Outside the original quadrilateral are two rooms, undoubtedly among the most representative of the entire structure: the triangular and rectangular rooms.
The triangular hall was created during the mid-16th-century expansions, when the bastion between the two Rondelles was added to the exterior. Particularly striking is the vaulted ceiling of this hall, defined by the intersection of three Carparo stone pavilion claddings that follow the unique shape of the room.
The Chapel on the ground floor is partially frescoed and contains various frames and epigraphs, including those from the tomb of Donna Teresa De Azevedo, who died on February 23, 1707, to whom her husband, Don Francesco de la Serna e Molina, lord of the castle at the time, dedicated a very tender epigraph in which he describes her as "an example of modesty, a goddess of beauty, a model of honesty, the offspring of Spanish heroes."
Beneath the ground floor of the Castle lies a maze of tunnels, galleries, and small rooms, known as the "underground system." These are highly evocative spaces of great historical value, having remained unchanged since their construction, dating back to the original structure in the late 15th century. Only a few passages underwent minor transformations and expansions with the development of firearms in the 16th century.
The basement is where it's easiest to understand the different phases that characterized the Castle's construction: the initial structure in the late 15th century, the linings and reinforcements of the curtain walls and some rondelles in the early 16th century, the addition of the triangular bastion in the mid-16th century, and, finally, the construction of the seaward strut in the late 16th century.
A covered stone staircase and an external stone staircase lead to the first-floor gallery, which provides access to a series of rooms that largely mirror the layout and layout of the ground floor.
From this level, however, access is gained to the interior of the three rondelles still present at the corners.
At the heart of the rondelles, protected by a thick external curtain wall, are circular rooms covered by hemispherical domes of Carparo stone, which housed bombards and cannons aimed at firing ports connected to the outside.
The patrol paths are located on the roofs, protected by very thick walls with slits for gun emplacements.
Both on the external curtain walls and inside the atrium are several coats of arms of sovereigns and nobles who played a key role in the castle's history. Of particular interest is the one above the entrance door, featuring the carved coat of arms of Emperor Charles V.
The fortress is the setting for the first Gothic novel in history: The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole (1764).
Retracing our steps into the town, we turn right onto Via Papa Costantino, then turn onto Via Immacolata, where the chapel of the same name once stood—the remains of which can still be seen. We take the alley on the left: the flying buttress in front of us indicates the massive Bastione Pelasgi.
We continue uphill and turn left to reach the Pelasgians' curtain wall, where a magnificent view awaits.
The Bastioni dei Pelasgi are the most suggestive point of the city of Otranto: you can admire the panorama of the port and sip a drink in one of the trendy bars in this area.
Inside the bastion is the splendid Torre Matta, a late-15th-century circular tower model incorporated within a mid-16th-century pentagonal structure. By purchasing a ticket, you can admire the tower from the height of its protruding cylindrical section and then take an elevator down to its base.
We take the small downhill road that leads to Corso Garibaldi, the shopping street.
Before turning left, directly in front of us is the arch of Palazzo Arcella, whose abutments are marble bases (perhaps from honorary columns) with Latin epigraphs commemorating two Roman emperors, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Verus (2nd century AD).
We walk slightly uphill along the entire avenue until we reach Piazza del Popolo, where the Torre dell'Orologio, built in 1799 and adorned with the city's coat of arms (the tower with the coiled serpent), stands tall. From here, we follow the signs to the Church of San Pietro, which is reached by a characteristic, irregular staircase.
The Church of San Pietro is a precious testimony to Byzantine rule in Terra d'Otranto, a period in which the city became a metropolitan see (in 968) under the direct control of the patriarchal see of Constantinople. Its dating has long been a matter of debate among scholars, but from an analysis of the structure, frescoes, and Greek inscriptions, it appears to date to the second golden age of Byzantine architecture, which began in the 9th-10th centuries AD. Indeed, the square plan contains an inscribed Greek cross, typical of this phase of Byzantine religious architecture.
Inside, three small naves are surmounted by a central dome supported by four columns. The three apses at the back house splendid Byzantine-style frescoes dating from the 10th to the 16th century. The oldest paintings are the "Lavanda dei piedi", which depicts Christ with a halo lifting the leg of St. Peter, and the "L'ultima Cena". The "Natività", "Pentecoste", and "Anastasis"(Resurrection) date back to the 14th century, while the "Presentazione al Tempio" and other figures of saints date back to the late 16th century.
We exit and turn right, pass through the archway, and reach Via Scupoli, lined with several buildings dating from the 16th to 18th centuries. Next to the entrances of some homes are large stone balls: the terrible projectiles launched by Turkish artillery in that fateful year 1480.
Turning right, we walk along Via Scupoli; at the end, through two small streets (Via De Ferraris and then, on the left, Via Melorio), we reach the initial section of Lungomare degli Eroi, where we find the bronze monument dedicated to the Martyrs of 1480.
From here, you can reach the public gardens and continue along Lungomare Terra d'Otranto, which offers an enchanting view of the sea and the city's coastline.
The walk can continue to the Faro Bianco, passing the Church of the Madonna dell'Altomare and the high cliff overlooking the Bay of Otranto, which offers an incomparable view of the historic center.
