Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city is a major port for trade and towards Greece and the Middle East. Brindisi has an active industry in agriculture, chemical and energy production.
There are several traditions concerning its founders; one of them claims that it was founded by the legendary hero Diomedes.
Brindisi was an Ancient Greek settlement predating the Roman expansion. The Latin name Brundisium comes from the Greek Brentesion (Βρεντήσιον) meaning "deer's head", which refers to the shape of the natural harbor. In 267 BCE (245 BCE, according to other sources) it was conquered by the Romans.[3] In the promontory of the Punta lands, which is located in the outer harbor have been identified as a Bronze Age village (sixteenth century BC) where a group of huts, protected by an embankment of stones, yielded fragments of Mycenaean pottery. Herodotus spoke of the Mycenaean origin for these populations. The necropoli of Tor Pisana (south of the old town of Brindisi) returned Corinthian jars in the first half of the seventh century BC. The Brindisi Messapia certainly entertained strong business relationships with the opposite side of the Adriatic and the Greek populations of the Aegean Sea.
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 BC (Bell. Civ. i.) and was again attacked in 42 and 40 BC.
The poet Pacuvius was born here about 220 BC, and here the famous poet Virgil died in 19 BC. 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. The termination of the Via Appia, at the water's edge, was formerly flanked by two fine pillars. Only one remains, the second having been misappropriated and removed to the neighbouring town of Lecce.

Main sights

• The Castello Svevo or Castello Grande ("Hohenstaufen Castle" or "Large Castle"), built by emperor Frederick II. It has a trapezoid plan with massive square towers.
• The Aragonese added four towers to the original 13th century structure. After centuries of being abandon, in 1813 Joachim Murat turned it into a penitentiary; after 1909 it is used by the Italian Navy. During World War II, it was briefly the residence of King Victor Emmanuel III.
• The Aragonese Castle, best known as Forte a Mare ("Sea Fort"). It was built by King Ferdinand I of Naples in 1491 on the S. Andrea island facing the port. It is divided into two section: the "Red Castle" (from the color of its bricks) and the more recent Fort.
• Two ancient Roman columns, symbols of Brindisi. They were once thought to be mark the ending points of the Appian Way, instead they were used as a port reference for the antique mariners. Only one of the two, standing at 18.74 m, is now visible. The other crumbled in 1582, and the ruins was given to Lecce to hold the statue of Saint Oronzo (Lecce's patron), because Saint Oronzo was reputed to have cured the plague in Brindisi.
• the Duomo (Cathedral), built in Romanesque style in the 11th-12th centuries. What is visible today is the 18th century reconstruction, after the original was desotryed by an earthquake on February 20, 1743. Parts of the original mosaic pavement can be seen in the interior.
• Church of Santa Maria del Casale (c. 1300), in Gothic-Romanesque style. The notable façade has a geometrical pattern of gray and yellow stones, with an entrance cusp-covered portico. The interior has notable early-14th century frescoes.
• Portico of the Templars (13th century). Despite the name, it was in reality the loggia of the bishop's palace. It is now the entrance to the Museo Ribezzo.
• the Fontana Grande (Grand Fountain), built by the Romans on the Appian Way. It was restored in 1192 by Tancred of Lecce.
• Piazza della Vittoria (Victory Square). It has a 17th-century fountain.
• Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli (1609). Church of the Holy Heart.
• Church of San Giovanni al Sepolcro, with circular plan, dating from the 12th century.
• Church of the Santissima Trinità (or Santa Lucia, 14th century). It has a late 12th century crypt.
• the Monument to Italian Sailors

Within the territory of the town of Brindisi environmental protected areas are located, some newly established:

• The Regional Natural Park of Punta della Contessa Salt: wetland, 214 acres (86.60 ha) wide, that develops between Capo di Torre Cavallo and Punta della Contessa
• The Regional Nature Reserve Forest Cerano: a protected natural area that falls within the territory of Brindisi and San Pietro Vernotico;
• The Regional Nature Reserve Bosco of Santa Teresa and Lucci: it is a protected natural area composed of two forests whose name it bears. With the EU Directive 92/43 EEC, was included in the list of Sites of Community Importance (SCI) ;
• The Marine Nature Reserve Guaceto Tower: falling mostly in the municipality of Carovigno, are managed by a consortium which includes the municipalities of Brindisi, Carovigno and the WWF.