Oria

Oria, a town of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Lecce, 25 m. E. of Taranto and 19 m. S.W. of Brindisi by rail, S40 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901), 8838. It occupies the site of the ancient Uria, the chief town of the Sallentini, which stood in a commanding position in the centre of the peninsula of the ancient Calabria, almost midway between Brundusium and Tarentum on the Via Appia. Strabo mentions that he saw there the old palace of the Messapian kings (vi. 3. 6, p. 282). The town contains a small museum and a fine castle of Frederick II., erected in 1227. The Doria family of Genoa and Rome is said to derive its name from a certain Tommaso d'Oria, who led the rebellion against Frederick's son Manfred. Much damage was done by a cyclone in 1878.