Italian Campsite Salento

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Otranto campeggio

Veduta aerea di Otranto

The City:
At the end of the Adriatic, at the easternmost point of Italy, in the heart of the Mediterranean, is Otranto. Closer to the east than the west, it is at the centre of the symmetries and asymmetries that “mare nostrum” (our sea) has designed over the millennia. Its urban fabric demonstrates traces, lemmas, stratifications, glosses of history dating back a thousand years where, all of Europe meets the meridian civilisation. The city, a setting of infinite charm, allows absent visits only to hurried tourists and to those who are attracted by the market stalls. The others, without a doubt will experience the charm that will stay with them forever. Many places offer visions of lost worlds: the caves of Cervo from the Neolithic times, the megaliths that from Capo d’Otranto come forwards inside the Salento peninsula, the remains of the civilisation of Messapi, of the Iapigi, of the Haethei, references to the mysterious Pelasgians. The name is of Greek derivation, formed by the words water and mountain. The cathedral lies majestically on the line in which the sun links the East and the West, marking the metaphysical heart. Inside, a mosaic floor unravels around a gigantic “arbor vitae”, swarming with lay and religious symbols. Otranto tells many stories, alert of the visitor: the crusades and the Normans, the megaliths and the Messapi, the Greeks, the Romans, and mysterious people of the Mediterranean. Surprise and enchantment, wounds and attracts, Otranto leaves nobody indifferent.

Campanile

The Story:
Greek colony, in 281 B C., is subjected to Rome, from its port the Roman militia depart at the time of the East, the notoriety of the city has become such that Aurelio Cassiodorus defines it as “Pull of Italy”. With the division of the Roman Empire, Constantinople insets his officials and the role of Otranto becomes emergent to the point where, during the 4th Century, Japigia, Messapia, Salento and Calabria take the denomination commune of Terra d’Otranto. They follow the invasions of the Alani, the Ostrogoths, the Vandals, the Goths, the Alemans, the Lombards, but the city always remains faithful to Constantinople. In 1040 the people of Otranto welcome the Normans, from 1061 to 1068 the Byzantines return. On the 15th August 1227, Frederic II sails towards Otranto in order to establish himself in the East. In 1440 Alfonso I enters Otranto, however Ferdinand of Aragon is against the Venetians, therefore in 1449 the Venetian fleet attacks Otranto which suffers from severe damages. In 1463 Giorgio Castriota Skanderberg gives his consent to

 Centro storico di Otranto

Ferdinand I of Aragon to overthrow the Angevins, he is in war against Florence and Venice, the Serenissima urges the intervention of the Turks who invade the city.
So in 1480 Mohammed II instructs from the siege that Achmet Pascia takes the city, gathers 800 men and enforces them to make the choice between embracing the Muslim faith or death, the 800 choose death. Ferdinand of Aragon frees the city in 1481. From 1496 to 1504 Venice detains Otranto. New invasions from the Turks occur in 1535, 1537, 1614 and 1644 however the city is always victorious. In 1671 the Naval Squad of the Knights of Malta arrives in Otranto. From 1672 to 1715 Otranto becomes the residence of the Consuls of Ragusa and Venice. Napoleon Bonaparte assigns the “feud of Otranto” to Giuseppe Fouche.
Cattedrale di Otranto

The Monuments:
Whether you arrive by sea, or look from above, Otranto strikes straightaway the military architecture of the Renaissance. The mighty ramparts enclose the historic centre like the arms of a man. At the time during the Roman Empire was divided into two, this city became the outpost of Constantinople. The Turks conquered in 1480, in 1481 the Argons freed the city and a true and proper architecture revolution occurred: the tall and narrow towers have been lowered and widened, in the introduced ditches known as “scarpa” and “controscarpa”. Recently added to the public gardens is the arc of Portaterra, the Alfonsina Tower which still threatens us with embrasures and slits. Few steps are needed to meet “the Lady of Otranto”, the Cathedral of the XI century. Thanks to the formal rigour typical of Apulian Romantic Gothic style, it manages to give a spacious form to the most incorporeal

 Particolare Castello Aragonese

element that exists: light. Inside, our gaze will be completely and inexorably absorbed by the immense, splendid and mysterious mosaic floor that encompasses the sacredness of Christianity as well as the same concept of the Sacred: the large Arbor Vitae the lion with four-bodies, Alexander the Great, Noah, the flood, the mermaid, King Arthur. In the right nave a chapel preserves the bones of the Martyrs decapitated in 1480 by the Turks. A crypt surprises us with a labyrinth of columns and capitals, which are always different. In an area even more inferior develops the Valley of Memories: the latter has numerous “arcosolio”, surrounded by crypts of the Italia-Greek monks. The Piazza of the Castle, showing its moats, the castle dominates the entire space, its entrance is surmounted by the coats of arms of Alfonso of Aragon, created by Ciro Ciri and the genius of Italian military architecture: Francesco of Giorgio Martini. The aspect of this manor is austere and elegant, solar and rounded as it appears far from the fantastic and Gothic description given O Walpole in his writing ‘The Castle of Otranto’. The tangible imprint of the Eastern Church in Otranto is the byzantine Shrine of St. Peter, built during the V-VIII centuries and then reconstructed in the XII century. A Greek cross with central dome is entirely frescoed. It appears to rise from the ground almost seeming to heighten and levitate. Rising solitary and imposing, slightly south of the City, the remains of the ancient abbey of St. Nicola of Casulis (VIII – XII century); basilica monastery in which operated copyists and writers such as Nettario of Casole. The coastal towers and the fortified farms are a new story, another chapter which enhances the coast and countryside of splendid architecture.
Baia dei Turchi Otranto

The Coast:
The waves of the Adriatic have, for a long time, played with Otranto, designing a range of coastline: long beaches protected by the dunes, small inlets with the Mediterranean mark, high coastline where the cliffs dive into the sea, bays, small islets, rocks and caves. Man has added towers and fortifications, farms, names and legends. Departing from the north coast, Frassanito discovers an end hidden by pine trees, slightly further on is the Tower which divides it from Alimini, where, among the dunes you can find the “Crigni” the

 Insenatura dell'Orte

characteristic black veins among the sand, drawn from the charcoal. Alìmini, or Alimìni, of Greek derivation, is equivalent to the Latin “sal stat” may also derivate from “Limni” pond which would allude to the two lakes: “fontanelle” (freshwater springs) and “Alimini”. Baia dei Turchi: a series of small coves which hide beaches they once had, in ancient times, used for landing onshore. Mulino d’Acqua: a series of small caves and one larger cave, with a collapsed vault. Grotta Monaca is a Grotticella which in past times presented a stalagmite with the form of a nun. The “Faro Bianco” marks the entrance of the port. The City is ready to welcome who arrives by sea but, the Bastion of Pelasgi marks an impassable limit. Behind the port, the tower of Serpe guards the fierce coast which slopes steeply, then much more gently in the large bay of Orte.
At Orte, where the sun rises, also rises the head of Otranto with its lighthouse. Behind, is St. Emiliano, inlet from the clear waters, with a small islet in the middle. From here we arrive at Port Badisco, the setting in which Virgil imagined the landing on Aeneas. Beauty and suggestion, nature and story, transport the visitor in a unique journey, never mundane, always different and in many ways, unique.

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