Porta Alfonsina

Walking through the Porta di Terra with its arch opening into the space confined by the walls and supported by a Napoleonic era polygonal bastion, you enter a square dominated by the great Porta Alfonsina.

The main entrance to the old city, this door owes its name to Alfonso d’Aragona who had it built after 1481 following the liberation of Otranto from the Turkish occupation.

There are two merged towers, with the doorway at the center, while at the front there is a triangular ravelin which makes a moat that can only be crossed with a drawbridge.

The two half-washers have characteristics similar to the fortified circuit angles, like Torre Duchessa, with one part a vertical wall, which today is hidden due to an overfilled moat.  The second is sloped, separated with a bull by a third vertical wall from which the upper crowning protrudes supported by brackets and blind arcades.

Already in its first configuration at the end of the 15th century, Porta Alfonsina, just as the other Washers, had a lower upper part defined by bolted holes for the arches and crossbows.

The entrance corridor is defended by four arch men overhanging on the ceiling.  At the bottom it is possible to see two Latin epigraphs bearing the name of the tower, which attests to the dedication and motto that invokes the Virgin Mother.

The remains found and embedded in the central part of the gallery, make it clear that the Door has been built on previous works from the medieval era, and possibly even Messapic.