Otranto

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NOVEMBER 2006

Otranto's exposed location has assured it an eventful and at times very bloody history. At one stage (1480) the entire population was massacred by the Turks (their bones can be found in the Cattedrale), then the town was recaptured by Spanish forces a year later. Today it is a relaxed little holiday town - filled with oiled brown Italians in the really hot months and red Germans to either side of these - and an Australian in November.

The Norman Cattedrale was inaugurated in 1088, and by 1165 the entire floor area was covered with fascinating mosaics (tied in to a tree of life) most of which are still there. The mosaics depict biblical characters (including Eve, below), warrior kings (including Alexander (below) and, unexpectedly, King Arthur), medieval beasts, pictorial representations for the activities of each month of the year and all sorts of working activity, including the building of the Tower of Babel. Truly amazing works which emerged unblemished from a lengthy restoration in the early 1990s. And there is one of those wonderful high photo quality and heavy Italian books about it all.

The beautiful crypt predates the Norman church and the little capital below is 1400 years old or more. The light is so bad in this corner that you can hardly see it but the Dom felt it was so priceless that it merited a bit of Abobying, even if the focus is not up to our normal standards!

Well, after all that excitement, a good slow lunch seemed the right thing to do, and close to the Cattedrale (just wander up the Via Cenobio Basiliano and hang a right) we found Massimo Panareo's Ristorante Vico Lopez. Helped by his mum Rita and the complete lack of other pranzo takers, the event started with local prawns cooked in a lemon sauce and proceeded through six further plates of fish and shellfish amidst a lot of Italian exchanges about ingredients and the state of the world and the tourists who came to Otranto, and ending with almond stuffed semi dried figs accompanied by a glass of Moscato riserva (a liquid form of heaven). And we have photos of every course.

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