BRINDISI, brt-n'def-se. (anciently: Lat. Brun disium, Brundusium Gk. Bparricrwv, Brente Bpcvriatov, Brentesion; said to have re wired its name from the harbor projecting like the antlers of a stag, from Opevoov, bren don, deer, stag). A seaport town of south ern Italy, in the Province of Lecce. It is situ ated on a small promontory in a bay of the Adriatic Sea, about 45 miles east-northeast of Taranto (Map: Italy. 11 7). Brindisi is a city of very great antiquity. It was taken from the Sallentines by the Romans B.C. 267. who, some twenty years later, established a colony here. The town, partly owing to the fertility of the country, but chiefly on account of its excellent port—consisting of an inner and (niter harbor, the former perfectly landlocked, and capable of containing the largest fleets and of easy de fense on account of its narrow entrance, and the latter also very well sheltered--rapidly increased_ in wealth and importance. It soon became the principal naval station of the Rowans in the Adriatic. In me. 230 Brindisi was the starting place of the Roman troops that took part in the first Illyrian War; and from this point the Romans nearly always directed subsequent wars with 31acedonia. Greece, and Asia. And when the Roman power had been firmly established beyond the Adriatic, Brindisi became a city second to none in South Italy commercial im portance. Horace, who accompanied •ecenas
in a diplomatic expedition to Brindisi in n.c. 40. has made the journey the subject of one of his satires (Nal. i. 5). Vergil died here in me. 19, on his return from Greets•. The city appears to have retained its importance until the fall of the Empire, lint it suffered greatly in the wars which followed. When the Normans became pos sessed of it in the Eleventh Century, the Cru saders made it their chief port for embarka tion to the Holy Land; but with the decline of the Crusades. Brindisi sank into compara tive insignificance as a naval station. The city subsequently suffered greatly from wars and earthquakes. The principal buildings are the cathedral. where the Emperor Frederick 11. was married to Yolamb- in 1225: and the castle, coin meneed by Frederick II.. and finished by Charles V. The district around Brindisi is still remark able for its fertility, olive-oil being produced in large quantities. Since the opening of the Suez Canal and the construction of the Mont Cenis and Saint Gotthard tunnels Brindisi has greatly increased in importance. being the landing-place or point of departure for numerous steamship lines. Population. in 1881, 14.508; (commune) in 1901, 25,317.