Ortona is a coastal town and municipality of the Province of Chieti in the Italian region of Abruzzo, with some 23,000 inhabitants.
In 1943 Ortona was the site of a bloody battle, known as "Western Stalingrad". A patron saint of Ortona is Saint Thomas the Apostle, whose relics were brought to Ortona in the 13th century by a sailor and are kept in the Cathedral of Saint Thomas.