Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Taktsang Lhakhang, also known as the “Tiger’s Nest”.
Bhutan • 11 days, 10 nights
Festivals & Temples of Bhutan
from
Macchu Picchu
Peru • 10 days, 9 nights
Peru: Machu Picchu & the Last Incan Bridges
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
Mosaic in Beachfront Park.
Tsunami Walking Tour
Madam Yoko’s gravesite.
Madam Yoko’s Grave
Garden path.
Garden of the Presidential Mansion
Anabaptist Cages
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
The sign declares this the number-one gumbo shop in town.
Gumbo Hut Shioya
The pavlova comes crowned with jewel-like fruit.
Central Park Boathouse
The Village Tavern of Long Grove - exterior.
The Village Tavern
Hunter House Hamburgers
L’Escamoteur
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
Aerial view of Bell Labs Holmdel
How the Bell Labs Holmdel Complex Inspired ‘Severance’
2 days ago
Omni Parker House Hotel
The Omni Parker House: Inside the History of Boston’s Most Iconic Hotel
3 days ago
The cute capybara.
Animal Takeover: Brace Yourself for Adorable Hordes
4 days ago
The Codex Gigas (the Devil’s Bible) open to the portrait of the devil.
Codex Gigas: Who Drew the Devil in This Massive Medieval Bible?
5 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All Italy Otranto Ossuary Chapel of the Cathedral of Otranto

Ossuary Chapel of the Cathedral of Otranto

A 1,000-year-old church holds the bones of the Christian martyrs who died hiding inside it.

Otranto, Italy

Added By
zackofalltrades
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
The Chapel and its bones.   loloeig/CC BY 2.0
The Chapel and its bones.   loloeig/CC BY 2.0
The Otranto Cathedral Ossuary.   Paul Koudounaris, Empire de la Mort
The Otranto Cathedral.   Attilios/CC BY-SA 3.0
The nave of the cathedral, where the martyrs were killed.   Lupiae/CC BY-SA 3.0
The altar at the ossuary chapel of Otranto Cathedral.   Palickap/CC BY-SA 4.0
The Otranto Ossuary Chapel.   MatthiasKabel/CC BY 2.5
The cathedral’s rose window.   MatthiasKabel/CC BY 2.5
  bbjames69 / Atlas Obscura User
  bbjames69 / Atlas Obscura User
  bbjames69 / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

In the heat of summer, 813 Christians huddled in the crypt of their local cathedral. They took the eucharist and waited to be sawn in half by the Turks attacking their village. What's left of them is now behind the altar.

In July of 1480, 128 Ottoman ships landed on the shores of Otranto as the first plan of attack in taking over Italy. It was a bloody attack. The Otrantians put up a fight but they were no match for the the Ottomans, who went from house to house, looting, murdering, and setting afire everything in their path. 

After 15 days of siege, the Ottomans had destroyed nearly everyone and everything. When they reached the Otranto Cathedral, they found a small band of Christian survivors huddled in the nave, led by the Archbishop Pendinelli in full regalia. They were given the option to convert to Islam on the spot, but they refused. The Archbishop was beheaded on the altar and accompanying clergymen were sawn in half.

The rest of the Christians were taken prisoner–the women and able children were sold into slavery while babies and adult men were killed. They stood firmly by their faith, but one man in particular, the tailor Antonio Primaldo, stood out in his conviction. As such, the Ottomans beheaded him first. However, as Paul Koudounaris writes in The Empire of Death, "...his body rose and stood upright. The Turks could not bring it down, even with the aid of an ox: it stood until the last of the victims fell." This miraculous feat prompted one executioner to fall to his knees and convert on the spot, though he was immediately impaled.

It took the three kings of Naples, Aragon, and Sicily to recapture southern Italy, but they were eventually able to force the Ottomans out. The cathedral had been badly damaged, used for a brief time as a mosque and then as a stable. The rose window and some of the 12th century frescoes were restored, along with the marvelous mosaic on the floor of the nave. The martyrs' skulls were collected and placed in the cathedral's reliquary, where they remain today.

In 1711 a chapel was built off the main cathedral, specifically dedicated to the martyrs. Some of their bones are viewable in glass cases behind the altar while others reside in display coffins. The "stone of martyrdom," upon which the Christians are believed to have been beheaded, lies behind the altar as well. In 2013, the 813 martyrs who hid in the church were collectively granted sainthood by Pope Benedict XVI. 

 

Related Tags

Ossuaries Christianity Islam Murder Bones Skeletons Churches Catacombs And Crypts Sacred Spaces
Atlas Obscura Adventures

Flavors of Italy: Roman Carbonara, Florentine Steak & Venetian Cocktails

Savor local cuisine across Rome, Florence & Venice.

Book Now

Community Contributors

Added By

zackofalltrades

Edited By

Molly McBride Jacobson, bbjames69

  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • bbjames69

Published

September 29, 2016

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • Paul Koudounaris, The Empire of Death (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2011), p.166
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otranto_Cathedral
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs_of_Otranto
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_invasion_of_Otranto
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefano_Pendinelli
Ossuary Chapel of the Cathedral of Otranto
Piazza Basilica
Otranto
Italy
40.1456, 18.490742
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Torre Sant'Andrea

Melendugno, Italy

miles away

Grotta Zinzulusa

Lecce, Italy

miles away

Museo Faggiano

Lecce, Italy

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Italy

Italy

Europe

Places 1,071
Stories 111

Nearby Places

Torre Sant'Andrea

Melendugno, Italy

miles away

Grotta Zinzulusa

Lecce, Italy

miles away

Museo Faggiano

Lecce, Italy

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Italy

Italy

Europe

Places 1,071
Stories 111

Related Stories and Lists

Bone Houses: A Definitive Guide to the World's Ossuaries

List

By Meg Neal

Related Places

  • The crypt is full of skulls and other skeletal remains.

    Rothwell, England

    Rothwell Bone Crypt

    Under a church hides a forgotten 13th-century ossuary containing the remains of around 2,500 people.

  • Steel coffin

    London, England

    St Bride's Church & Charnel House

    This landmark church concealed a crypt packed with bones that was discovered thanks to the London Blitz.

  • The altar of the church

    Solferino, Italy

    The Ossuary at San Pietro

    The bones of some 7,000 soldiers killed in the historic Battle of Solferino are stored here.

  • Putim Ossuary

    Putim, Czechia

    Putim Ossuary

    The mystery of the Putim Ossuary involves a tricorn hat.

  • Wamba Ossuary

    Wamba, Spain

    Wamba Ossuary

    One of the largest ossuaries in Spain is packed from floor to ceiling with bones.

  • Sedlec Ossuary

    Kutna Hora, Czechia

    Sedlec Ossuary "Bone Church"

    A church of bones, decorated with 40,000 human skeletons.

  • Kudowa-Zdrój, Poland

    Kaplica Czaszek (Chapel of Skulls)

    The walls and ceiling of this Polish church are decorated with thousands of skulls, with another 21,000 skeletons just below.

  • Chios, Greece

    Nea Moni

    This 11th-century Greek monastery has renowned mosaics and relics of a brutal past.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.