The end of the Via Appia on the harbour
Brindisi, on a natural harbour of extraordinary shape, with two arms of sea penetrating deep into the land like the antlers of a deer (from which the Messapian name Brention, deer's head, may derive), was for centuries the gateway to the East. Here ended the Via Appia, the "queen of roads" that started from Rome, and from here ships left for Greece, Asia Minor and, in the Middle Ages, for the Crusades and the Holy Land. The poet Virgil died in Brindisi in 19 BC, returning from Greece.
The symbol of the city are the Roman columns on a monumental stairway overlooking the port: according to tradition they marked the end of the Via Appia, although their real function is debated. Of the two columns, only one remains standing, with a richly carved capital with figures of gods and tritons; the other collapsed in 1528 and its pieces were donated to Lecce, where they were used for the column of Sant'Oronzo. The original column is now kept in the nearby Palazzo Granafei-Nervegna to protect it. The old town has the Romanesque church of San Giovanni al Sepolcro, a round church of the Templars, the cathedral, the Swabian castle of Frederick II on the harbour, and the seafront, a pleasant evening walk. Across the harbour stands the Monument to the Italian Sailor, a huge rudder-shaped tower.
Tip: a small boat crosses the inner harbour from the seafront to the monument; the Ribezzo archaeological museum has bronze statues recovered from the sea.
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