Editing Otranto (section)

==History==
[[File:Otranto by Piri Reis.jpg|thumb|left|Historic map of Otranto by [[Piri Reis]]]]
[[File:"Otranto eine kleine Hafenstadt mit wechselvoller Geschichte". 20.jpg|left|thumb|The fortress]]
Otranto occupies the site of the ancient Greek city of [[Magna Graecia]] '''Hydrus''' (in Greek: Ὑδροῦς) or '''Hydruntum''' (in Latin), also known as '''Hydrunton''', '''Hydronton''', or '''Hydruntu'''. Otranto was a town of [[Messapians|Messapian]] (Illyrian) origin, which, in the wars of [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus]] and of [[Hannibal]] sided against Rome.

In Roman times it was a city. As it is the nearest port to the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, it was perhaps more important than [[Brundisium]] (present Brindisi), under the Roman emperors as a point of embarkation for the East, as the distance to [[Apollonia (Illyria)|Apollonia]], (in present Albania) was less than from Brundisium.{{sfn|Ashby|1911}}

In the 8th century, it was for some time in the possession of duke [[Arechis II of Benevento]].

On 17 August 928, the city was sacked by a [[Fatimid]] fleet under [[Sabir al-Fata]]. Its inhabitants were carried to North Africa as slaves.<ref>{{Das Reich des Mahdi|pages=214–215}}</ref> It remained in the hands of the [[Byzantine emperors]] until it was among the last cities of Apulia to surrender to the Norman [[Robert Guiscard]] in 1068. It then became part of the [[Principality of Taranto]]. In the Middle Ages, the Jews had a school there.

===Ottoman invasion===
{{Main article|Ottoman conquest of Otranto}}
[[File:Otranto cathedral martyrs.jpg|thumb|Skulls of "Martyrs of Otranto" on display in Otranto cathedral]]
In 1480, Sultan [[Mehmed the Conqueror|Mehmed II]] sent an [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] fleet to [[Battle of Otranto|invade Rome]] under the command of [[Gedik Ahmed Pasha]]. The force reached the shores of Apulia on 28 July 1480, and the city was captured in two weeks on 11 August 1480. All of the male inhabitants were slaughtered by the victorious Ottomans. Of the 22,000 inhabitants, only 10,000 were left alive. Some 800 citizens, known as the "[[Martyrs of Otranto]]", were beheaded after they had refused to convert to Islam. They were canonised by Pope Francis on 12 May 2013.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pope canonises 800 Italian Ottoman victims of Otranto|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22499327|work=BBC|date=12 May 2013|access-date=May 12, 2013}}</ref> Archbishop [[Stefano Pendinelli]] was also martyred.

Between August and September 1480, the Italian and European kingdoms failed to help King Ferdinand of Naples except for his cousin Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain, the Kingdom of Sicily and later the Republic of Genoa.<ref>G. Conte, ''[https://www.academia.edu/14526373/Una_flotta_siciliana_ad_Otranto_1480_ Una flotta siciliana ad Otranto (1480)]'', in "Archivio Storico Pugliese", a. LXVII, 2014</ref> In 1481, the Pope, in panic, called for a crusade to be led by [[Ferdinand I of Naples|King Ferdinand of Naples]] and was joined by troops of Hungarian king [[Matthias Corvinus]]. The Ottomans controlled the city for 13 months. Mehmed II died on his way to capture the rest of Italy.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.yazaroku.com/fsanat-kultur/ilber-ortayli/07-08-2011/guney-italya-ve-osmanlilar/369717/.aspx |title=Güney İtalya ve Osmanlılar |trans-title=Southern Italy and the Ottomans |access-date=11 August 2011 |archive-date=23 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323065343/http://www.yazaroku.com/fsanat-kultur/ilber-ortayli/07-08-2011/guney-italya-ve-osmanlilar/369717/.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> His successor, Sultan [[Bayezid II]], ordered Gedik Ahmed Pasha to be hanged. On 11 September 1481, the Ottomans abandoned the city.

In 1537, the famous Ottoman corsair and admiral [[Barbarossa (Ottoman admiral)|Barbarossa]] recaptured Otranto and the Fortress of Castro, but the Ottomans were again repulsed from the city and from the rest of Apulia.

===Napoleonic Wars===

In 1804, the city was obliged to harbour a French garrison that was established there to watch the movements of the English fleet.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} Under the French name of '''Otrante''' it was created a [[duché grand-fief de l'Empire]] in the Napoleonic kingdom of Naples for [[Joseph Fouché]], Napoleon's minister of Police (1809).{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} The family used the title of [[duc d'Otrante]] after Joseph Fouché's death.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

[[File:Puglia Otranto1 tango7174.jpg|thumb|upright=2.5|Sea front]]

===World War I===

During WWI the allied Italian-French-British Fleet organized the [[Otranto Barrage]] to control the Austro-Hungarian Fleet in the Adriatic Sea. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet led by captain [[Miklós Horthy]] attacked the Barrage (13 -15 May 1917) breaking it and sinking some British drifters ([[Battle of the Strait of Otranto (1917)]]).<ref>Carlo Stasi, Otranto e l'Inghilterra (episodi bellici in Puglia e nel Salento), in Note di Storia e Cultura Salentina, anno XV, pp. 127–159, (Argo, Lecce, 2003), Paul G. Halpern, The Battle of the Otranto Straits (controlling the Gateway to the Adriatic in WWI) (Bloomington, I.U.P. 2004).</ref>

===World War II===

During WWII the British fleet raided the Otranto Channel (11-12 November 1940) as a diversionary manoeuvre ([[Battle of the Strait of Otranto (1940)]] from the contemporary main attack on Taranto ([[Battle of Taranto]]).<ref>Carlo Stasi, Otranto e l'Inghilterra (episodi bellici in Puglia e nel Salento), in Note di Storia e Cultura Salentina, anno XV, pp. 127–159, (Argo, Lecce, 2003), Carlo Stasi, Otranto nel Mondo. Dal "Castello" di Walpole al "Barone" di Voltaire (Editrice Salentina, Galatina 2018) {{ISBN|978-88-31964-06-7}}, Thomas P. Lowry, The Attack on Taranto (Stackpoole Books paperbacks, 2000)</ref>