According to the legend, a city called Sybar existed at the times of the War of Troy, founded by the Messapii Italic tribe. Later it was occupied by the Iapyges and conquered by the Romans in the 3rd century BCE, receiving the new name of Lupiae. Under the emperor Hadrian (2nd century AD) the city was moved 3 km to NE, taking the name of Licea or Litium. Lecce received a theater, an amphitheater and connected to the Hadrian Port 8the current San Cataldo). After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Lecce was involved in the Gothic Wars, during which it was sacked by the Ostrogoth king Totila. After the Byzantine definitive conquest of 549, it remained part of the Eastern Empire for five centuries, with momentary rules and conquests by Saracens, Lombards, Hungarians and Slavs. After the Norman conquest in the 11th century, Lecce regained commercial importance, continuing to flourish in the subsequent Hohenstaufen and Angevine dominations. The County of Lecce was a fief of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1053-1463, when it was annexed directly to the crown. From the 15th century onwards Lecce increased its status of one of the most important cities of southern Italy, and, starting from 1630, it was enriched with precious Baroque monuments. The main danger were the Ottoman invasion, for which a new line of walls and a castle were built by King Charles V in the first part of the 16th century.