Sunday Strolls, Vol. 5: Otranto
Sunday Strolls is an Attic series in which our Editors offer you a glimpse into their everyday lives by taking you around some of the cities they love. In this fifth edition, Rory Mara takes you around Otranto, a city in her native Puglia.
If I say Otranto, chances are, the first thing you’re going to think about is Horace Walpole’s classic gothic novel The Castle of Otranto. You might imagine all the tropes that became the tropes of gothic stories – secret passages, a swooning heroine, thunder booming in the distance. Those are, at least, the images that come to my mind.
The reality of Otranto, however, is slightly different.
Don’t get me wrong – there are sites which mark some pretty dark historical events, like the martyrs of Otranto, dead by decapitation in the fifteenth century. However, Otranto is still be one of the sunniest places you’ll ever visit – with white houses, small alleys, and a sea so clear it looks like a precious gem. The cathedral certainly has a gothic vibe to it, having being built in the twelfth century. But, to me, it looks opulent rather than dark. There is the castle then, built by the Aragonese. I think it looks more like a fortress than a castle but I can see it being the set of a gripping novel. Overall, spending a day in Otranto is bound to be the best of the year: peaceful, relaxing, and aesthetically pleasing. For me today, it was.
Click through my photos below:
Photos by Rory Mara.
Rory Mara is Beauty Editor at The Attic of Eighth. She loves the ballet, books, beheadings, and alliteration.