"Otranto, a miniscule town nestling around its harbor, makes an ideal base for exploring this part of the Adriatic. It's only an hour by tain from Lecce...and still very much a quiet Puglian backwater...Its history, however, is decidedly grim. One the last Byzantine towns to fall to the Normans, in 1070, Otranto remained a thriving port for crusaders, pilgrims, and traders. But in 1480 a Turkish fleet layed [sic] siege to the town, which held out for fifteen days before capitulating. It's said that as punishment the archbishop, upon capture, suffered the indignity of being sawn in half, a popular Turkish spectacle. Nearly 12,000 people lost their lives and the 800 survivors, refusing to convert, were taken up a nearby hill and beheaded."
Ouch! Nearly 1000 years later, and we are still seeing christians martyred by the muslims. Thanks for posting that fascinating history on the town.