Day 60: Tiles and bones

We went for a longer drive today – to the coastal town of Otranto. A World Heritage site since 2010, the old town boasts an impressive fort and a really cool 11^th-century cathedral. It was the cathedral that we were particularly interested in visiting, and for one reason in particular – its floor. Filling most of the space is a spectacular 12^th-century mosaic that depicts scenes from the Old Testament and chivalric cycles, figures from medieval bestiaries, and a 'tree of life' that shows human experience from the Fall to salvation.

The cathedral also has a crypt supported by 42 marble columns and some rather macabre glass cabinets filled with the skulls and bones of the Martyrs of Otranto, the 813 inhabitants of the city who were killed on 14 August 1480 after Otranto fell to an Ottoman force under Gedik Ahmed Pasha.

We then drove back to the city of Lecce, which is known as the Florence of the south, thanks to its impressive collection of Baroque architectural monuments. There we ate some focaccia overlooking the second-century Roman amphitheatre and wandered around taking in the sights.