Plus ca change.

Otranto is famous for a few other things. It was a major stepping off point for generations of crusaders off to do God's work.
It was therefore always a centre of cultural conflict and was fought over many times.
Statue commemorating the martyrs
Dem bones
Dem bones
An attempt by the Ottoman Turks under Ahmed Pasha to take mainland Italy was partially thwarted by the resistance of the Otrantans in 1480. While many escaped from the besieged city a small group continued to fight. When they were finally overwhelmed, the story goes that some 800 or so refused to convert to Islam and were executed.
They have been deemed martyrs and canonised. Their bones are held in the reliquary of the Cathedral alongside the medieval mosaic.
This massacre resulted in the Pope ordering a crusade on Otranto and a combined force from Naples, Hungary and Portugal were sent to the city the following year, although the Portuguese  were too late to fight.
This was the last attempt by the Ottomans to take territory on mainland Italy. Some historians have deemed this an important moment in the long term conflict.
So slaughtering in the name of religion was going on then as now, even though the real fuel for conflict was and is strategic, territorial and material.
 Managed the officialdom OK today and our last brush with authority is the Greek lot. Off to Corfu tomorrow.

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