Editing Mehmed II (section)

=== Expedition to Italy (1480) ===
{{main|Ottoman invasion of Otranto}}[[File:Mehmed II (1432-1481).jpg|thumb|A [[bronze medal]] of Mehmed II the Conqueror by [[Bertoldo di Giovanni]], 1480<ref>{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O142648/mehmed-ii-medal-bellini-gentile/|title=Mehmed II {{!}} Bellini, Gentile {{!}} V&A Search the Collections|website=collections.vam.ac.uk|year=1480 |language=en|access-date=9 April 2017|archive-date=9 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409203927/http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O142648/mehmed-ii-medal-bellini-gentile/|url-status=live}}</ref>|alt=A bronze medal of Mehmed II the Conqueror]]
[[File:Mehmed II Doppelbildnis.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of Mehmed II with a young man on the left. It is assumed that Bellini himself did not create the two portraits in Istanbul, but only after his return to Venice. The young man is sometimes interpreted as Mehmed's son Cem, but there is no proof of this.]]

An Ottoman army under [[Gedik Ahmed Pasha]] invaded Italy in 1480, capturing [[Otranto]]. Because of lack of food, Gedik Ahmed Pasha returned with most of his troops to [[Albania]], leaving a garrison of 800 infantry and 500 cavalry behind to defend Otranto in Italy. It was assumed he would return after the winter. Since it was only 28 years after the fall of Constantinople, there was some fear that [[Rome]] would suffer the same fate. Plans were made for the Pope and citizens of Rome to evacuate the city. [[Pope Sixtus IV]] repeated his 1481 call for a [[crusade]]. Several Italian city-states, Hungary, and France responded positively to the appeal. The [[Republic of Venice]] did not, however, as it had signed an expensive peace treaty with the Ottomans in 1479.

In 1481 king [[Ferdinand I of Naples]] raised an army to be led by his son [[Alphonso II of Naples]]. A contingent of troops was provided by king [[Matthias Corvinus]] of Hungary. The city was besieged starting 1 May 1481. After the death of Mehmed on 3 May, ensuing quarrels about his succession possibly prevented the Ottomans from sending reinforcements to Otranto. So, the Turkish occupation of Otranto ended by negotiation with the Christian forces, permitting the Turks to withdraw to Albania, and Otranto was retaken by Papal forces in 1481.