The archaeological area of San Pietro degli Schiavoni
The city's first jewel is located in the heart of Brindisi's historic center, at the foot of the new Verdi Theater. It is the ancient Roman quarter of San Pietro degli Schiavoni, so named because of the presence of a church dedicated to the saint of which, however, traces have been destroyed. Only a few ancient documents identify its opening for worship in the 13th century, but the precise location has not been identified there.
To visit the archaeological site of San Pietro degli Schiavoni is to take a plunge into a page of history that endures and unfolds under the watchful gaze of modern buildings. Just a glance and the contrast is well accentuated.
To this day, the archaeological area features elements and artifacts of the ancient Roman city and was discovered by chance in the early 1960s, when a series of dilapidated houses were demolished to build the new Palace of Justice. The site is crisscrossed by a wide main street onto which overlooked houses and stores typical of Roman times, recognizable by the entrance thresholds with mosaic and terracotta floors that are still well preserved.
Frederician Castle of Brindisi
A place of control at the entrance to the Gulf of Brindisi, the Swabian castle is a silent and majestic guard. On one side it guards the interior of the urban center and turns its gaze toward the Torrione dell'Inferno, on the other it stretches nostalgically toward the blue sea.
Commissioned by Frederick II in 1227, the imposing structure still retains its trapezoidal Frederician layout. It was later strengthened and enlarged by Ferdinand I of Aragon with the construction of the present ante-mural and the four large towers at the corners. Today it is home to the navy.
The castle and the historic center of brindisi are among the main, unmissable stops on a tour of the Upper Salento. (Still to come out art to link).
Temple of St. John at the sepulcher in brindisi
Among the other living testimonies to history that can be encountered during a walk through the historic center of Brindisi is the Temple of San Giovanni al Sepolcro. It is a circular-shaped building built by the chivalric order of the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulcher before 1128, the year to which the first known document in which the church is named dates.
The church of St. John represents clear evidence of the close relationship between the city of Brindisi and the Holy Land during the period of the Crusades. It was, in fact, designed as a copy of the Rotunda of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The copy was a souvenir for the pilgrim who had been able to make the journey but also constituted a kind of "virtual" pilgrimage for those who did not have the opportunity to see the holy places in person.
The temple is embellished with paintings that recall the Byzantine tradition and the culture associated with the Crusader movement. Among the graffiti on the walls inside and outside the church, one can admire numerous symbols: traces that tell of the passage of men, pilgrims and knights eager to leave a memory of themselves and their devotion in a sacred place, capable of conveying strong impressions even to the modern visitor.
Of considerable artistic interest is the main portal, with a marble lintel surmounted by a spire and supported by two columns resting on styliphoric lions. The artistic beauty with which it is manifested leaves one breathless!
Roman columns of Brindisi
At the port of Brindisi, at the top of the Virgil staircase, stands the monument considered the symbol par excellence of the city. These are the marble Roman Columns, or rather what remains of them. Erected in all their ancient beauty, after one of the twin columns collapsed in an earthquake in 1528, only one remained intact. Lonely and perhaps a bit melancholy, it stands the test of time and is caressed by the enchanted gaze of passersby who admire it from the Lungomare.
Nearly 19 meters high, the surviving column is surmounted by a capital of Corinthian order, decorated with acanthus leaves and twelve half-length mythological figures: the four main figures represent male and female sea deities, including Neptune and Jupiter. The other eight figures in the corners are Tritons playing with instruments made from sea shells.
Probably, the two Brindisi columns were built in 110 AD by Emperor Trajan to celebrate the construction of the Appian Way on the stretch from Benevento that led directly to Brindisi.
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