Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunziata - Otranto, Italy - Cathedrals on Waymarking.com

Built on the remains of a Messapiic village, a Roman house and an early Christian church or temple, the cathedral was founded in 1068 by the Norman bishop William or Guglielmo. It is a synthesis of varied architectural styles, with Byzantine, early Christian and Romanesque elements. It was consecrated on 1 August 1088 under the papacy of pope Urban II by the papal legate Roffredo, archbishop of Benevento. The nave's partly surviving frescoes include Byzantine traces, such as the image of the Madonna and Child in the south nave and the crypt running under the apse, the sanctuary and part of the nave – dates back to the original 11th-century church – this crypt is a miniature of the famous Cistern of Theodosius or the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba. It has three semicircular apses and forty-eight bays interspersed with over seventy columns and pillars. It is especially marked by supporting elements from ancient and early medieval buildings. Its surviving frescoes cover a range from the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century.

The mosaic running the whole length of the nave, sanctuary and apse is 12th century in date – it was commissioned by the first Latin archbishop of the city, Gionata, and created between 1163 and 1165 by a group of artists led by Pantaleone, a Basilian monk from the monastery of San Nicola di Casole. It shows scenes from the Old Testament and chivalric cycles, as well as figures from medieval bestiaries, arranged alongside a 'tree of life', showing human experience from the Fall to salvation.

After Otranto was retaken from the Ottomans in 1481 by a force under Alfonso V of Aragon it was heavily rebuilt to house the relics of the Martyrs of Otranto, who had been executed after the 1480 siege. The reconstruction included the rose window on the gabled west front, with 16 rays of fine Gothic tracery converging at the centre according to the canons of Gothic architecture.

In the north aisle is a baroque baptistery commissioned by archbishop Michele Orsi in the mid 18th century, a burial monument to Francesco Maria de Aste (died 1719) and the mausoleum of the metropolitan Gaetano Cosso (died 1655). In 1693 archbishop Francesco Maria De Aste built the triumphal arch and in 1698 covered the central nave and the sanctuary with a black, white and gilded wooden ceiling. In the sanctuary is the high altar with the 18th-century altar frontal, embroidered in silver with a scene of the Annunciation.

Address: Piazza Basilica, Otranto LE, Italy Religious affiliation: Roman Catholic Date founded or constructed: 11th century Web site: [Web Link]

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