Otranto

Italy's easternmost town faces Albania across the strait that bears its name, its walled old quarter rising behind a small Salento harbour. Ottoman troops took Otranto in 1480 and held it for 13 months; the relics of the martyrs of that siege lie in the Norman cathedral, floored with a vast mosaic of 1166. The moated, five-sided Aragonese castle still guards the town.

Highlights

• The cathedral's 12th-century mosaic floor and its crypt of 42 columns
• The Castello Aragonese, with its moat and Punta di Diamante bastion
• San Pietro, a Byzantine church with Greek inscriptions and frescoes
• Punta Palascìa lighthouse, the most easterly point of mainland Italy
• Sandy beaches near the Alimini lakes north of town (IT)

Summary based on Wikipedia and Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA), written with AI assistance.