Brindisi

Brindisi in Apulia capital of the province now has about 89,793 inhabitants, situated on an inlet, a natural harbor overlooking the Adriatic coast of Apulia (Italy). 
The entire municipality is part of the Brindisi Plain, an area with high agricultural vocation, particularly virtuous in horticulture, viticulture, olive and fruit crops, in the north-eastern part of the Salento plains. 
According to the legend, Brindisi was founded by Brunt, son of Hercules, from which it derives its name. More likely, the city was founded by Messapi back in the eighth century BC and its name comes from the word brunda that in the messapica language  means deer head, which recalls the shape of the  port has always been  amongst the most safe ports of the Adriatic sea. 
Gateway to the East, the city now is the daughter of a fluctuating history determined by the vicissitudes of its port that has always been a crossroads of cultures and ethnic groups. 

What to see

Brindisi (Apulia, Italy) is a precious case of evidence of its history and of the people who have passed through it. 
The symbol of the city are two Roman marble columns from Turkey, dated from the second century, only one of which integrates the reference port for the ancient sailers. Proceeding towards Piazza Duomo you will find the Portico of the Templar Knights, dating from the fourteenth century, today the entrance door of the Museum Ribezzo that holds within it, among other archeological discoveries from the province, an important section of the cast of Trajan's column depicting the city's port . 
Brindisi is full of fountains, constructed by Captain Pedro de Torres Aloysio, following an epidemic that hit the city. These include the Victoria Square fountain, a marble bath on which today you can read an inscription in memory of the governor. Then there is the Tancredi Fountain, built by the Romans and restored by Tancredi, the last Norman king, for the wedding of his son. Finally, the Fountain of Arcore 1937, from the impressive lighting effects. 
Impressive is the Castello Svevo, also known as the Castle of the Earth, built by Frederick II of Swabia, with its  trapezoidal and square towers. In 1813, the fortress was transformed into a prison by Joachim Murat, then it became a naval base during both world wars, when it hosted Vittorio Emanuele III, who made  Brindisi the capital of Italy. On the islet in front of the harbor there is instead the Aragonese Castle, also known as Forte a Mare, created in 1491 by Ferdinand I of Aragon to defend the city against attacks from the sea. 
Among the monuments of a religious nature, we must mention the Cathedral, the Romanesque church, with an eighteenth-century facade, containing inside the silver ark reliquary with the body of S. Teodoro. Then there is the Church of St. Benedict sought by Godfrey and Norman counts Sighelgaita, which depicts battle scenes on the portal, between men and fantastic animals. And yet the Church of S. John at the Tomb of the early twelfth century; Santa Maria del Casale, which dates back to around 1300, contains several paintings of Rinaldo of Taranto;the Church of SS. Trinity and its crypt, from the sixteenth century; the Church of S. Maria degli Angeli, built in 1609 by St. Lorenzo, with a  wooden carved door  with images relating to hagiographic S. Francis, S. Clare and the Evangelists, and which contains within it relics of the saint.