Information AboutOtranto |
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DESCRIPTION Otranto is situated on the east coast of the Salento peninsula. The Strait Of Otranto connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea . The harbour is small and has little trade. About 30 miles southeast lies the ''promontory of S. 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 Otranto occupies the site of the ancient Hydrus or '''Hydruntum''', a town of Greek origin, which, in the wars of Pyrrhus and of Hannibal sided against Rome. In Roman times it was a city in the Provincia Calabria . 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 eighth century, it was for some time in the possession of Arichis, Duke of Benevento (758-87). 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. In 1480 , the Turkish fleet landed nearby and took the city and its fort. The Pope called for a Holy War, with a massive force built up by Ferdinand I Of Naples , among them notably troops of Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus , despite frequent Italian quarreling at the time. The Neapolitan force met with the Turks in 1481 , thoroughly annihilating them and recapturing Otranto. However, in the two battles, the city was utterly destroyed, and has never since recovered its importance since the sack of Otranto by the Turks, in which 12,000 men are said to have perished — among them, Bishop Stephen Pendinelli, who was sawn to death; the "valley of the martyrs" still recalls that dreadful event. On other occasions, as in 1537, the Turks landed again at Otranto, but they were repulsed. 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 Otranto is was created a Duché Grand-fief De L'Empire in the kingdom of Naples for Joseph Fouché , Napoleon's minister of Police (1809) ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY The first known bishop of this see was Petrus, to whom St. Gregory the Great refers in 596; and there is record of his two successors; they were Sabinus (599) and Petrus (601); Bishop Marcus (about 807) is believed to be the author of the liturgical office for Holy Saturday. Bishop Petrus (958) was raised to the dignity of metropolitan by Polyeuctus, Patriarch Of Constantinople (956-70), with the obligation to establish the Greek Rite throughout the new ecclesiastical province. The Latin Rite was introduced again after the Norman conquest, but the Greek Rite remained in use in several towns of the archdiocese and of its suffragans, until the sixteenth century. Bishop Jacob IV (1378), also Patriarch of Jerusalem, had a part in the schism of the West, for which reason he was imprisoned by Charles of Anjou, and compelled to abjure publicly; after that, however, he betook himself to Avignon; Peter Anthony of Capua (1536) distinguished himself at the Council of Trent; Francis M. dall'Aste (1596) was author of "Memorabilia Hydruntinæ Ecclesiæ". In 1818 the diocese of Castro , formerly a suffragan of Otranto, was united to it. Castro's bishops are known from 1137; among them was John Parisi, killed in 1296 by Canon Hector, of Otranto. The suffragans of Otranto are Gallipoli , Lecce , and Ugento ; the archdiocese had (early XXth century) 56 parishes, 100,200 inhabitants, 4 religious houses of men, 11 of women, 2 schools for boys, and 9 for girls. MONUMENTS The castle was erected by Alfonso I Of Aragon . The cathedral of Otranto, consecrated in 1088 , is a work of Count Roger I (1088), and was 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, etc. It has a crypt supported by forty-two 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 S. Pietro has Byzantine frescoes.
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