What to see in Brindisi, an itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including the Swabian Castle, the Cathedral, the Archaeological Museum and the Church of San Giovanni al Sepolcro.
Tourist information
The provincial capital of Puglia, Brindisi has been an important port city since Roman times, which connected it to Rome via the Via Appia and Via Traiana, to encourage their trade with the east.
Conquered by Goths, Byzantines and Lombards, then devastated by Saracen pirates, Brindisi returned to new life under the Norman, Swabian and Angevin dominations, while the transition to Spanish domination caused its decline.
The route to visit the city on foot starts from the Swabian Castle located in via della Libertà.
It is a building built by Frederick II in 1227, consisting of a quadrangular male surrounded by cylindrical towers and bulwarks.
Continuing along via Colombo you will find the thirteenth-century Porta Mesagne, inserted in the sixteenth-century walls.
Taking via del Carmine you reach via Marconi where there is the Church of San Benedetto, dating back to the eleventh century but later remodeled, with the interesting cloister of the convent, porticoed and distinguished by splendid multi-lancet windows.
What see
The Church of San Giovanni al Sepolcro, located in the homonymous street, is a circular building built by the Templars around the year one thousand, with a beautiful carved portal and fourteenth-century frescoes inside.
In Piazza Duomo, the fifteenth-century Balsamo loggia, the portico of the Knights Templar, the Cathedral, the Bishop's Palace and the provincial archaeological museum, containing numerous finds found in the area, overlook.
Proceeding towards the port you arrive in Piazza Colonne, from where you can enjoy a wide panorama, which reaches up to the fifteenth-century Alfonsino castle on the island of Sant'Andrea.
Walking along Viale Regina Margherita, skirting the port quay, you can see on the opposite side the monument to the Italian sailor, a 53-meter-high work in the shape of a rudder built in 1933.
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Going back, passing through Corso Garibaldi, you arrive at the Church of Santa Lucia built in Romanesque style.
Of the original construction, which dates back to the year 1000, the right arched side and the frescoed crypt remain.
Continuing to walk south, after four blocks you will find the Church of Christ, located in via Porta Lecce and dating back to the thirteenth century, with a remarkable facade, with alternating white and gray ashlars, as well as a beautiful rose window, and with an interior containing a Madonna Enthroned with crucifix, as well as interesting wooden sculptures dated twelfth century.
