Description
The Hotel Internazionale is a grand 19th-century building in Brindisi born with the Indian Mail, the train and steamship line that from 1870 to 1914 linked London to Bombay by way of this very Apulian port.
Its guests included sovereigns, nobles and wealthy merchants on their way to India. From London the train reached the port of Brindisi after exactly 45 hours of travel, and here passengers and mail boarded the steamships of the British P&O company.
The building also hosted King Victor Emmanuel III, when Brindisi was the capital of Italy in 1943 and 1944 and important meetings were held in the city.
The line's fortunes ended in 1914. The British had asked for new docks, the Italian government didn't build them, and the steamships gradually moved to Marseille: the winds of war weighed in too, since Italy was allied with the Central Powers.
Its guests included sovereigns, nobles and wealthy merchants on their way to India. From London the train reached the port of Brindisi after exactly 45 hours of travel, and here passengers and mail boarded the steamships of the British P&O company.
The building also hosted King Victor Emmanuel III, when Brindisi was the capital of Italy in 1943 and 1944 and important meetings were held in the city.
The line's fortunes ended in 1914. The British had asked for new docks, the Italian government didn't build them, and the steamships gradually moved to Marseille: the winds of war weighed in too, since Italy was allied with the Central Powers.