The search for a retreat house led Anthony Weaver to the easternmost point of the Italian mainland, where he found a history of siege and martyrdom that has poignant lessons for religious tolerance today What could possibly be the connection between a lovely seaside city deep in the south of Italy, with whitewashed buildings reminiscent of Greece, and the horrific recent atrocities by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria?Otranto? The city suddenly came to life for me when a search for retreat houses in the south of Italy unearthed one named after the Martyrs of Otranto, the more than 800 inhabitants of the city who were beheaded by invading Turks in 1480 for refusing to convert to Islam. All were canonised by Pope Francis on 12 May 2013. Otranto, with a population of just over 5,000, lies at