or Terra d'Otranto, a province of Italy in the kingdom of Naples; bounded on the north by the Terra di Bari and by the gulf of Venice, on the east by the same gulf, and on the south and west by a great bay which is between that and the Basilicata. It is a mountainous country, abounding in figs, olives, and wine. It is often visited by locusts, and by Algerine pirates, who carry off all the people they can catch into slavery. But to keep them off, there are a great many forts on the coasts.

a city of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, and capital of the province of the same name, with a commodious harbour, an archbishop's see, and a strong citadel, where the archbishop resides. Mr Swinburne gives this account of it: "It is (says he) small, stands on a hill, and contains only 3000 inhabitants. Its little harbour is not so bad but it might induce more people to settle here, as no port on the coast lies so convenient for traffic with Greece. The Adriatic gulf is here but 60 miles wide. I climbed to the top of a tower to get a sight of the Acroceranum mountains; but a vapour hanging over the sea, along the horizon, hid them from my view: in a clear morning, their snowy tops are said to be very visible. The cathedral of Otranto is Gothic, and, according to the Puglian fashion, has its subterraneous sanctuary. The columns are of beautiful marble and granite; the pavement, a rude species of mosaic, commonly called Saracenic: As it is to be met with in all churches founded by the Norman kings of Sicily, the artists who laid it were probably Saracens, or at least Greeks, their scholars. These mosaics are composed of pieces of porphyry, serpentine, and cubes of gilt glass,—disposed in stars, circles, or chequers. The compartments of the stalls are bordered with them; and the small twisted columns, which support the pulpits and canopies, are ornamented with a spiral stripe of the same work. It is a pity so much durability, compactness, and beauty of materials, should have been lavished on such barbarous designs. Otranto was a Roman colony, as is certified by an inscription, almost the only monument of antiquity left there (A). In the 10th century it was made an archbishop's see. In 1489, Laurence de Medici, to deliver himself from the attacks of the king of Naples, persuaded Mahomet II. to invade the realm; and Otranto was the unfortunate place where the Turks landed. It was invested, stormed, and pillaged. Its prelate was slain at the door of his church; 800 principal citizens dragged out of the gates and butchered; their bodies left 12 months unburied, till the duke of Calabria retook the city, and committed them to hallowed earth. About 100 years after, a devout person affirmed, that these bones had appeared to him in a dream;

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(A) *Num. Hydr.—ÆR Caput barb. et laurent. ΥΔΡΩΝΤΙΝΩΝ. = Tridens, cum duobus delphinibus.* dream; and, upon the strength of his vision, they became, for the vulgar, objects of almost equal veneration with the relics of the primitive martyrs."