Description
The Monument to the Italian Sailor is a gigantic golden stone rudder about 53 meters tall, on the shore of Brindisi's harbor opposite the old town. It honors the Italian sailors lost at sea, and from the top you can see the whole city.
It's made of reinforced concrete, entirely clad in carparo, the honey-colored local stone. Looking at its silhouette, the people of Brindisi fondly call it "la jatta 'ssittata," the sitting cat.
At the base, facing the sea, is the crypt, shaped like an upturned hull, with pointed arches and, above the altar, the Virgin "Star of the Sea." The names of 5,992 sailors who died between the unification of Italy and 1933 are carved into the black marble on either side of the entrance.
The crypt also holds the bell of the battleship Benedetto Brin, which blew up in Brindisi harbor in 1915 when its magazine exploded. The bell was recovered in 1968, while the outer harbor was being dredged. Next to it are a 1:100 scale model of the ship and a statue of Saint Barbara.
On the upper terrace stand two anchors from the Austro-Hungarian cruiser Saida, handed over to Italy after the war and renamed Venezia, and two guns from Austro-Hungarian submarines. On either side of the rudder, tall walls recreate the sides of a ship.
Inside the rudder, a spiral staircase and an elevator lead to the terrace at the top: from up there the view takes in the city, the harbor, the Adriatic and even the airport. Just below the summit, in a niche, a statue of the Madonna has looked out to sea since 1954.
The monument was built for the roughly 6,000 sailors who died in World War I. Brindisi was chosen over La Spezia and Trieste because of the central role the city had played in the Great War.
The national competition drew 92 designs. The winner, by architect Luigi Brunati and sculptor Amerigo Bartoli, was titled "Sta come torre" ("Stand like a tower"). Work began in October 1932 and took just a year, at a cost of 2.3 million lire at the time: King Victor Emmanuel III inaugurated it on November 4, 1933.
Originally two large fasces flanked it; they were removed with the fall of Fascism. Since 1965 an eternal flame has burned in front of the crypt, next to the plaques for the sailors who died in World War II.
Don't miss
• The view from the top.
• The crypt.
• The bell of the Benedetto Brin.
• The anchors of the Saida.
Did you know?
• In Germany, at Laboe, there's a naval memorial with a very similar shape, built between 1927 and 1936.
• Since 2013 the rudder has also served as a signal light for the harbor.
It's made of reinforced concrete, entirely clad in carparo, the honey-colored local stone. Looking at its silhouette, the people of Brindisi fondly call it "la jatta 'ssittata," the sitting cat.
At the base, facing the sea, is the crypt, shaped like an upturned hull, with pointed arches and, above the altar, the Virgin "Star of the Sea." The names of 5,992 sailors who died between the unification of Italy and 1933 are carved into the black marble on either side of the entrance.
The crypt also holds the bell of the battleship Benedetto Brin, which blew up in Brindisi harbor in 1915 when its magazine exploded. The bell was recovered in 1968, while the outer harbor was being dredged. Next to it are a 1:100 scale model of the ship and a statue of Saint Barbara.
On the upper terrace stand two anchors from the Austro-Hungarian cruiser Saida, handed over to Italy after the war and renamed Venezia, and two guns from Austro-Hungarian submarines. On either side of the rudder, tall walls recreate the sides of a ship.
Inside the rudder, a spiral staircase and an elevator lead to the terrace at the top: from up there the view takes in the city, the harbor, the Adriatic and even the airport. Just below the summit, in a niche, a statue of the Madonna has looked out to sea since 1954.
The monument was built for the roughly 6,000 sailors who died in World War I. Brindisi was chosen over La Spezia and Trieste because of the central role the city had played in the Great War.
The national competition drew 92 designs. The winner, by architect Luigi Brunati and sculptor Amerigo Bartoli, was titled "Sta come torre" ("Stand like a tower"). Work began in October 1932 and took just a year, at a cost of 2.3 million lire at the time: King Victor Emmanuel III inaugurated it on November 4, 1933.
Originally two large fasces flanked it; they were removed with the fall of Fascism. Since 1965 an eternal flame has burned in front of the crypt, next to the plaques for the sailors who died in World War II.
Don't miss
• The view from the top.
• The crypt.
• The bell of the Benedetto Brin.
• The anchors of the Saida.
Did you know?
• In Germany, at Laboe, there's a naval memorial with a very similar shape, built between 1927 and 1936.
• Since 2013 the rudder has also served as a signal light for the harbor.