CASTRO, a seaport town of Italy, in the province of Otranto, and 10 miles south-west of the city of that name.

It is the seat of a bishopric, and has an old castle and a cathedral. Some export trade is carried on in corn, wine, and fish ; but the harbour is accessible only to small vessels. The town is supposed to be the same with the Castrunt ifinervce of the Romans, which possessed an ancient temple of the goddess whose name it bore, and was described by Virgil as the first place in Italy seen by his hero YEneas.