In 1163 the monk Pantaleone laid a story 700 square metres long across the floor: the Tree of Life, a mosaic where Adam, King Arthur, hell, elephants and the farming months coexist — Italy's most visionary medieval encyclopaedia, read by walking. The crypt of forty-two columns, no two alike, is a Byzantine forest.
In the side chapel, the bones of the eight hundred Martyrs of 1480 recall the Turkish siege: Otranto is beauty and memory together.
Our tip: enter unhurried and "read" the mosaic from the entrance toward the altar, following the trunk: every panel is a tale. Early-morning light through the rose window ignites it better than any spotlight.
