What is Brundisium?

Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Puglia
Province	Brindisi (BR)
Mayor	Domenico Mennitti (since june 14, 2004)
Area	km
Population
- Total (as of December 31, 2004)
- Density	/km
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates
Gentilic	Brindisini
Dialing code	0831
Postal code	72100
Frazioni	Tuturano
Patron	St. Lawrence of Brindisi and St. Thomas of Amasea
- Day	first Sunday of September
Website: www.comune.brindisi.it

*Brindisi can also refer to a song in which a company is exhorted to drink, such as the "Tea-Cup Brindisi" in Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Sorcerer." Also in Verdi's Traviata.

*For the Argentine actor see Rodolfo Brindisi.

Brindisi is an ancient city in the Italian region of Puglia, the capital of the province of Brindisi.

History

Ancient times

There are several traditions concerning its founders; one of them claims that it was founded by the legendary hero Diomedes.

Brindisi was probably an Illyrian settlement predating the Roman expansion. The Latin name Brundisium, through the Greek Brentesion, is a corruption of the Messapian Brention meaning "deer's head" (cf. Albanian bri, brî "horn") and probably referring to the shape of the natural harbor. As a Messapic center, Brindisi was in conflict with Taranto and in friendly relations with Thurii. In 267 BCE (245 BCE, according to other sources) it was conquered by the Romans.^[1] After the Punic Wars it became a major center of Roman naval power and maritime trade. In the Social War it received Roman citizenship, and was made a free port by Sulla. It suffered, however, from a siege conducted by Caesar in 49 BCE (Bell. Civ. i.) and was again attacked in 42 and 40 BCE.

The poet Pacuvius was born here about 220 BCE, and here the famous poet Virgil died in 19 BCE. Under the Romans, Brundisium - a large city in its day with some 100,000 inhabitants - was an active port, the chief point of embarkation for Greece and the East, via Dyrrachium or Corcyra. It was connected with Rome by the Via Appia and the Via Traiana.

Middle Ages and modern times

Later Brindisi was conquered by Ostrogoths, and reconquered by the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century CE. In 674 it was destroyed by the Lombards led by Romuald I of Benevento, but such a fine natural harbor meant that the city was soon rebuilt. In the 9th century, a Saracen settlement existed in the neighborhood of the city, which had been stormed in 836 by pirates. Again a Byzantine possession, it was captured by the Normans in 1070, and subsequently part of the Kingdom of Naples under its various dynasties. Like other Pugliese ports, Brindisi for a short while was ruled by Venice, but was soon reconquered by Spain.

A plague and an earthquake struck the city, in 1348 and 1456, respectively.

Brindisi fell to Austrian rule in 1707-1734, and afterwards to the Bourbons. Between September 1943 and February 1944 the city functioned as the temporary capital of Italy.

In the 21st century, Brindisi serves as the home base of the San Marco Regiment, a naval brigade originally known as the La Marina Regiment. It was renamed San Marco after its noted defense of Venice at the start of World War I.^[2]

Transportation

Brindisi is home to the Papola-Casale Airport, located 6 km outside the city's center. Brindisi is also a major ferry port, with routes to Greece and elsewhere.^[3]

See also

• Lottatore Brindisino

External links

• Official site
• Travel in Brindisi
• Update on alleged BG Group corruption / bribery scandals in Brindisi, Italy

References

•  • [ e] Puglia · Comuni of the Province of Brindisi
BrindisiCarovignoCeglie MessapicaCellino San MarcoCisterninoErchieFasanoFrancavilla FontanaLatianoMesagneOriaOstuniSan DonaciSan Michele SalentinoSan Pancrazio SalentinoSan Pietro VernoticoSan Vito dei NormanniTorchiaroloTorre Santa Susanna Villa Castelli