Brindisi

Brindisi: Appian Way

Brindisi, ancient (Latin) Brundisium, city, Puglia (Apulia) regione, southeastern Italy, on the Adriatic coast between the arms of a Y-shaped sea inlet that admits oceangoing ships, southeast of Bari.

Legend attributes the foundation of the city to Diomedes, the companion of Odysseus; its original Greek name Brentesion (changed by the Romans to Brundisium, meaning “stag’s head,” from the antler-shaped inner harbour) shows its Illyrian origin. Made a Roman town in 266 bc, it formed, with Tarentum (now Taranto), a base of resistance to the Carthaginian general Hannibal half a century later. Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) and Mark Antony were reconciled there in 40 bc, and in 19 bc the poet Virgil died there. Held by a succession of overlords in the early European Middle Ages, Brindisi regained importance after conquest by the Normans (1071) and was the embarkation port for many crusaders. Its prosperity continued under the first Angevins (House of Anjou), but it was damaged in the struggles over the succession to the Kingdom of Naples at the end of the 14th century and by an earthquake in 1456. It revived in the 19th century under the Bourbon kings of Naples and the kings of Italy, and its commercial prosperity was further stimulated by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. In World War I it was the centre of Italian naval operations in the Adriatic. After the fall of Benito Mussolini (July 25, 1943), it was the seat of the Italian government of Pietro Badoglio, who then extricated Italy from the war (September 3).

A Roman column marks the end of the Appian Way, and there are other Roman remains. Although much of the city is modern, there are some medieval buildings, including the castle (1227) of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II; the 11th-century cathedral (rebuilt in 1749); the 11th-century circular baptismal Church of San Giovanni al Sepolcro (now the Civic Museum); and several other churches. Brindisi is the seat of an archbishop and has a provincial museum of archaeology.

Served by the main coastal railway from Ancona to Lecce, with a branch to Taranto, and by an airport 3 miles (5 km) north, Brindisi’s excellent port conducts a busy trade with the Middle East and Far East. The city is the main ferry terminal for growing tourist traffic between Italy and Greece. Although it is primarily a commercial centre, Brindisi has food-processing and chemical industries and an oil refinery, and it produces wine. Pop. (2006 est.) mun., 90,439.