Otranto

Otranto sits on Italy's easternmost point, on the Adriatic coast of the Salento peninsula, and is one of Apulia's most visited small towns, its medieval walled centre giving onto fine sand beaches. Its best-known historical episode is the 1480 siege, when an Ottoman force under Gedik Ahmed Pasha landed and took the city after fierce resistance; roughly 800 townsmen who refused to convert to Islam were executed on the Hill of Minerva, later renamed the Hill of Martyrs, they were beatified by Pope Clement XIV in 1771 and later canonized by Pope Francis in 2013 as the Martyrs of Otranto. The city was retaken the following spring by Aragonese forces aided by troops of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus. Otranto's cathedral, consecrated in 1088, survived the occupation with its most celebrated feature intact: a vast 12th-century mosaic covering the entire nave, sanctuary, and apse floor, depicting an intricate Tree of Life that blends Christian, classical, and local imagery — one of the most complete medieval mosaic floors to survive anywhere.