OTRANTO, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – A city and archdiocese in the province of Lecce. It has a population of 187,941 inhabitants, almost all Catholic, distributed across 59 parishes served by 142 diocesan priests and 30 regular clergy, a minor seminary, 7 male religious communities, and 35 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 305). Its suffragan dioceses are Lecce, Gallipoli, and Ugento. The cathedral is dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
I. HISTORY
The revival of Otranto, after its decline in the Roman period due to the nearby city of Brindisi, was brought about by the desperate political conditions of Byzantium, which, reduced to the extreme periphery of the Salento region, elevated the city to the political, military, and religious capital of the area. The Irish diocese, however, predates the Byzantine era and may be traced to the late 4th or early 5th century, considering the great authority held by its first historically known bishop, Peter (595; Jaffé-Wattenbach, 1400), to whom Gregory the Great entrusted the task of visiting the vacant dioceses of Brindisi, Lecce, and Gallipoli (595 and 601; op. cit., 1696; 1727; 1849) and assisting in the election of their prelates. He was followed by: Andrew (649), who attended the Lateran Council of Martin I, and John I (680), present at the Third Council of Agatho I held in Constantinople. In the 9th century, as mentioned, the Irish Church came under the orbit of Constantinople, and its see included bishops of the *sizmastic* type, of whom only a few names are known. It is certain, however, that during this period Otranto acquired decisive preeminence over all neighboring sees and accumulated rights and privileges that no one would later dare revoke. It was certainly the Patriarch of Constantinople who conferred the archiepiscopal dignity upon the Irish see, but it is doubtful whether Mark (870), the most learned author of the Greek quasi-psalmody Office, was the first to receive II. More plausible is the attribution, without naming any prelates, to Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, by whose order in the 10th century Patriarch Poliutus declared it a metropolitan see in residence, with jurisdiction over nearby cities and the dioceses of Acerenza, Gravina, Matera, Tricarico, and Tursi. The archbishop of Otranto thus received the title of *primas Salentinorum*, the patriarchal cross, the attribute of *serenissimus*, and the right to prebends from feudal lords and barons. Only in the 11th century did Otranto return to the Church of Rome, though the Greek rite remained tenaciously alive for a long time.Among the most eminent prelates of these events, mention should be made of Peter II (956), who bound his Church to Byzantium; Hugh (1068), who participated in the Council of bishops held in Salerno by Alexander II; William, who consecrated the cathedral (1088); and Jonathan (1163), the first archbishop of the Latin rite, commissioner of the cathedral’s pavement mosaics.
Once returned to the orbit of Rome, the popes confirmed Otranto’s acquired preeminence, detached the dioceses granted by Byzantium, assigning instead those of Lecce, Gallipoli, and Ugento, and granted its prelates the privilege of the pallium. In 1480, the Church of Otranto also gained its martyrs for the Faith: when the city fell into the hands of Mehmed II, the Saracens enslaved women and children and brutally slaughtered all 800 men who, together with Archbishop Stefano Pendinelli, had taken refuge in the cathedral (v. Antonio Primaldo and companions, Bl. M). From then on, the city, though burdened with glory, fell into miserable decline. Among the prelates who served the cathedral after that year, mention may be made of Pietro Antonio De Capua (1536–79), who attended the Council of Trent; Michele Orsi (1722–52), who founded the seminary and adorned the cathedral with marble; and Vincenzo M. Morelli (1792–1812), declared Venerable by the Church. In 1818, Pius VII permanently united the church of Castro to Otranto and also to Ugento.
II. MONUMENTS
The cathedral, begun in 1080 through the munificence of the Norman Duke Roger, was consecrated eight years later by Archbishop William. The following year, after surviving the Saracen assault, it was restored by Archbishop Serafino da Squillace—who is buried in the monument by M. Ferrando of Galatina (1481), perhaps the author of the portal on the left side of the church—and later poorly remodeled in Baroque forms in 1674 and 1764. After recent restoration work, its Romanesque lines have reappeared, with the fine rose window of the façade built with slight projections, the arched ribs on 14 granite columns, the bases and capitals of classical craftsmanship (it was said to stand near a temple to Minerva), and the three broad, luminous naves. The imposing crypt, rebuilt with five small naves, dates to the 12th century and is supported by 68 small columns adorned with fine capitals, showing Byzantine, indigenous, and transalpine influences. The superb mosaic pavement, created by the priest Pantaleone (1163–66) to decorate the vast surface of the cathedral floor, has suffered greatly from the ravages of time and restorations. While the compositions of the small naves and the apse are lost, the panels of the main nave remain, depicting a huge tree extending its branches to embrace scenes of every kind, bold and wild in design and execution. There are monsters and animals of all kinds, hunting and triumphant scenes (Alexander ascending to heaven), biblical episodes (Noah in the ark, Jonah, etc.), and allegorical representations (the months), scenes from the New Testament (photo Alinari).(1 Protoparents, Cain and Abel) and legends of the Round Table. In short, there is the entire multifaceted world of the Middle Ages, which, vibrating against the white background of the *vermiculatum*, expresses a bizarre epic of symbols, fables, and myths in a chaotic tangle where earthly reality blends and merges with fantasy.
The church of St. Peter (12th century), in the shape of a Greek cross with a cylindrical dome, preserves Romanesque frescoes and an architecture of heavy, strongly curved arches on rough columns. In the vicinity, to the south of the city, stand the remains of the ancient abbey of St. Nicholas, founded by the Basilians between the 6th and 9th centuries and remodeled in elegant Romanesque and Gothic forms. Though restored after its destruction by the Saracens, it lost its prestige definitively and fell into continuous ruin. Another superb basilica, now reduced to a heap of crumbling ruins, was the so-called *Centoporte* ("Hundred Doors"), named for the number of its entrances. Only a few arches, windows, and the buried crypt remain. See pl. XXXI.