Brindisi, history of a port

Brindisi is one of the oldest cities in Puglia, it is one of the largest natural ports in the entire Mediterranean Sea, defined for this reason as the Gateway to the East.

Messapian Brindisi traded and exchanged with all the Greek populations of the Aegean. The Archaeological Museum of Brindisi documents the history of these trades and the Greek influence on the growth and prosperity of the city.

Discover the Archaeological Museum of Brindisi

The Romans conquered it in 266 BC and transformed it into a fundamental port of call for the East, for this reason the people of Brindisi acquired Roman citizenship by right a few years later (in 240 BC).

The Appian Way was built first, then the Trajan Way.

Read also The Roman Roads of Puglia

The greatest Latin tragedian (grandson of Quintus Ennius from Lecce) Marcus Pacuvius, considered by Cicero to be the father of Latin literature, was born in Brindisi. Horace stayed in Brindisi for a while, accompanied by Maecenas, while the famous poet Virgil died there in 19 BC returning from a trip to Greece. During the period of Rome's greatest splendor, Brindisi was perhaps the most important port in the entire empire; its port was also important in the Middle Ages for the crusades in the Holy Land, and in the 19th century for the connection between London and the East Indies (many English tombs dating back to the second half of the 19th century are present in the main municipal cemetery).

Brindisi, like Lecce, very soon became an important center for the evangelization of the area. In the 6th century it was occupied by the Goths and shortly thereafter conquered by Romualdo. The Saracens occupied it in the 9th century and then returned permanently under the control of the Byzantines. From the 11th century it was Norman and became part of the Principality of Taranto and then of the Duchy of Puglia and Calabria. During the period of the Crusades, Brindisi regained the episcopal seat and saw the construction of the cathedral and the castle.

The wedding of the Norman prince Roger, son of King Tancred (who left a monumental fountain there in 1192 as a commemoration) was celebrated in the Cathedral, and in 1225 Frederick II married the heir to the crown of Jerusalem, Isabella of Brienne.

From 1496 to 1509 it belonged to Venice, and then passed under the Aragonese dominion. It was precisely under the Aragonese period that the long period of decline of Brindisi began, with the progressive silting up of the port.

 the aristocracy lived in the most absolute debauchery, the people lived in the most desperate poverty. Tired of this dramatic situation, on June 5, 1647, two small naval merchants, Teodoro and Donato Marinazzo, organized and incited the crowd in a revolt that saw the imprisonment of the mayor, the burning of the mint building, the assault on the homes of the nobles in the service of Spain and culminated with the establishment of a sort of "autonomous government"; the revolt was put down only a year later, when a fleet was sent to conquer the city. The Marinazzo brothers were captured and hanged in Naples on January 29, 1650.

With the subsequent Bourbon domination there was a period of economic growth: in 1775, under Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, the exit channel of the internal port was reactivated and the marshes adjacent to the city were reclaimed.

The annexation to the Kingdom of Italy in 1860 and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought a new lifeblood to Brindisi, which allowed it to become the preferred terminal for the India Mail and an important commercial hub for the large former British colony.

During the Second World War Brindisi became the seat of the Allied command for the lower Adriatic Sea, acquiring considerable strategic importance and paying for this role with several bombings in the historic area.

Between September 1943 and February 1944, following the escape of Vittorio Emanuele III from Rome, the city offered refuge to the entire dynasty and became the temporary seat of government for six months.

What to see:

The Land Castle and the Sea Castle

The Temple of San Giovanni al Sepolcro

Terminal Columns of the Appian Way

Church of Santa Maria del Casale

Archaeological Museum Ribezzo

Granafei Nervegna Palace

Monument to the Italian Sailor

Basilica of the Visitation and St. John the Baptist

Portico of the Knights Templar