BRINDISI, or BRANDISO, a city of Italy, situated in the Terra-D'Otranto, and kingdom of Naples, was known in ancient times by the name of Brundusium ; and was the scene of many important events in Roman history. It is impossible to ascertain its original foun ders ; but it is known to have been taken by Attilius Regulus from the Salentines, in the year before Christ 256. In this place, Pompey the Great sought refuge from the power of Cxsar, by whom he was closely block aded ; and from whose skilful approaches, he, with great difficulty, made his escape to Greece. This town and its garrison declared, at an early period, for Octa vianus, afterwards Augustus, and put him in possession of all the military stores which his uncle, Julius exsar, had collected for his intended expedition to Parthia. It was soon after besieged by Mark Antony ; and, Octa vianus having advanced to its relief, found his legions so reluctant to light against their countrymen, that he was obliged to come to an accommodation with his ri val ; which was effected by the mediation of Pollio and Izecenas, and confirmed at Brundusium by the mar riage of his sister Octavia to Antony. It was farther celebrated, as the birth-place of the tragic poet Pacu vius, and as the scene of the death of Virgil. It suf fered greatly during the ravages of the Vandals in Ita and in the year 336, was almost completely destroy ed by the Saracens. The Greek emperors were very desirous to retain it in their possession, and to restore its ancient prosperity ; but, before they could effect their intended improvements, they were driven from it by the Not mans under 'William I. It recovered much of its splendour during the successive expeditions to Pa lestine, for which its excellent harbour presented a con venient point of embarkation; and it particularly bene fited by the presence of the emperor Frederick, who made it a principal place of rendezvous to his arma ments for the Holy Land ; but by the loss of Jerusa lem, the fall of the Greek empire, the conquest of the east by the Turks, and the consequent ruin of the trade of the Levant, the town of Brindisi lost all its impor tance, and was reduced to a state of desolation, from which it has never recovered.
Of ancient Brundusium little now remains but the co lumn of the light-house ; a large marble bason, into which the water flows from brazen heads of deer ; num bers of broken pillars, which have been removed from their former stations to the corners of the streets, to protect the houses from the wheels of carts ; frequent fragments of coarse mosaic, which had composed the floors of ancient habitations; inscriptions, coins, ruins of aqueducts, and a few other similar vestiges of an tiquity.
Of the present city of Brindisi, the walls still include a large space ; but the inhabited houses do not occupy half the inclosure. The streets are crooked and badly paved ; the buildings mean and ruinous in their appear ance ; and none of the public edifices in any respect re markable. The only structures at all deserving of no tice, are the cathedral, built by king Roger, and dedicat ed to St Theodore ; the citadel, a large and stately building, erected by the emperor Frederick 11. to defend Abe northern branch of the harbour, and repaired by Charles V.; and the walls of a palace, near the port, built by Walter de Brienne. of gray stone, divided, at regular distances, by broad courses of black marble, bu t the greater part of•which has been pulled down, to sup ply materials for the new canal at the entrance of the inner harbour.
But the most remarkable object in Brindisi is its double harbour, which has a very peculiar appearance, and is reckoned the finest in the Adriatic. Two pro montories stretching out gradually as they advance into the sea, form the outer port, which is protected from the fury of the waves, by the island of St Andrew lying between the capes, and NI, hich thus presents a large triangular space, in which vessels of considerable bur den may safely ride at anchor. At the bottom of this bay, where the two promontories unite to form an angle, is a narrow channel, admitting the water into the inner port, which extends itself on each side in the shape of a semicircle, embracing the city like two arms, bearing some resemblance to a stag's ricad and horns From this appearance, the name Brundusium is supposed to have originated, which is said to be an old Massapian word, signifying the head of a deer. This harbour is conjectured to have been produced by the sinking of the ground, in consequence of an earthquake, as the hills around it are upon an exact level, and exhibit parallel correspondent strata. It extends two miles and a half in length, and is twelve hundred Feet broad at the widest part. It has a great depth of water, is sheltered by the hills and the town on every side, and is excellently adapt ed for every purpose of navigation and track. The com munication between the two havens, was formerly mark ed out by means of lights, placed upon columns of the Corinthian order, erected on a rising ground in a direct line with the channel. Only one of these, of a green and white marble, remains entire upon its pedestal. Its capital is adorned with figures of syrens and tritons, in termingled with the acanthus leaf ; and upon the sum mit is a circular vase, which formerly contained the fire. The soil in the neighbourhood of the town is light and good, and produces excellent cotton, of which the inha bitants manufacture stockings and gloves. The position
of the place is centrical, and in the whole kingdom of Naples a finer situation for trade is not to be found. But, by one fatal circumstance, the obstruction of the chan nel, which unites the outer and inner havens, this un happy city was deprived of all its natural advantages, and desolated by the most afflicting evils. Its ruin may be said to have been begun by Julius Czesar, when, in order to block up the fleet of Pompey, he drove piles, and threw heaps of rubbish into the space of commu nication. In the fifteenth century the prince of Taranto caused several ships to be sunk in the middle of the passage, to prevent the royalists from entering the port, and thus provided a resting place for the sand and sea weed, which soon accumulated to such a degree, as to render the entrance impassable to vessels of every de scription. In 1752, the bank had increased so much, that, except in rainy seasons, and during violent easter ly winds, even the waves were completely excluded ; and, from that period, the inner port became a green fetid lake, full of noxious insects, and infectious eflluvix ; so that no fish could live in it but eels, and no boat ply upon its surface but the smallest canoes. The low grounds at each end were converted into stagnant marshes, the vapours of which created every summer an actual pestilence, which, in the course of a few years, destroyed or drove away the greatest part of the inha bitants, so that from 18,000 they were reduced, in 1766, to 5000 miserable looking creatures, tormented with agues and fevers ; and of this number not less than 1500 were carried to their graves during the autumn of 1775, in a climate, which, 30 years before, was esteemed so salubrious and balsamic, that the convents in Naples were accustomed to send their consumptive friars to Brindisi for the restoration of their bealtn.• In this state of wretchedness the remaining citizens applied tor re lief to Don Carlo Demarco, one of the king's ministers, who was himself a native of Brindisi ; and, in conse quence of this representation, Don Andrea Pigonati, an able engineer, was sent with plans and instructions for the improvement of the harbour. The marshes, at each extremity of the inner port, have been filled up with earth, and a dam constructed to prevent the water from returning upon those low grounds. The channel has been cleared so far, as to form a canal with a depth of two fathoms of water, capable of admitting pretty large boats, and to afford a free passage to the sea, which now rushes in and out at every tide with great impetuosity, giving motion to the water of the inner harbour, which is thus again rendered pure and wholesome. In clearing this opening, several seals and medals were found by the workmen ; and many of the oak piles which had been driven in by Ca:sar, and which had remained above eighteen centuries seven feet under the sand, were drawn up in as fresh a state as if they had been cut only a month before. The canal or gut is designed to extend in a straight line seven hundred yards ; and, if the plan were accomplished, a harbour will be formed, complete ly land-locked, capable of containing a whole navy, and of admitting vessels of the greatest burden. But ap prehensions are entertained, whether the work can be properly secured against accidents, and kept in a suffi cient state of repair, without a considerable annual ex pence ; and great difficulty has been experienced in ren dering the piers strong enough to resist the violence of the sea, and preventing the re-accumulation of the sand by the tides. By these operations, however, a return of health, and a prospect of commercial prosperity, have been already opened to the citizens of Brindisi ; who have resolved, in gratitude for so great blessings, to erect a statue to the king, with inscriptions upon its pedestal to the minister, and his agents.
Since this town was visited by Mr Swinburne, these improvements have been carrying on under the direc tion of Don Carlo Pollio, an able engineer. do remov ing the earth from one of the banks, for the purpose of covering the marshy grounds, the workmen discovered the foundation of a house, which appeared to have been inhabited by a Roman. The distribution of the apart ments level with the ground, the canal fee the bath, and the bed-chamber, with mosaic work, and the motto of Lew (tortilla I sleep well, were distinctly seen. Among the rubbish there were also found the statue of a wo man, and two heads of ancient philosophers.
Beside the causes which we have already assigned for the ruin of Brindisi, there is another which is de serving of notice. During the long war which the Ve netians waged against the Turks, a fleet of the republic was always stationed in the port of this city. The Ve netians admired the wines which were made in the ad jacent country, and paid a high price for them. The avarice of the inhabitants, however, was greater than their prudence; they tore up all their olive trees, and replaced them with vines, in order to supply a demand whit.h they never stem to have regarded as temporary. But when the Venetians left Brindisi, the produce of the vineyards could not find a market, while oil was not to be had. Population 2042.* East Long. 17° 40', North Lat. 40' 48'. See Swinburne's Travels in the two Sid lies,vol. i. p. 383. ; Stolberg's Travels in Germany, Italy, and Sicily, 1791, 1792 ; and illinales d Voyages, &c. par Malthe Brun, tom. iii. p. 209. (17!