Description
The walls of Brindisi are what remains of the circuit that defended the city for centuries: gates, bastions and towers scattered among the houses of the old town. Messapians, Romans, Swabians, Aragonese and Spaniards all left their mark on them, and some stretches can still be visited.
The strongest pieces are on the landward side. Porta Mesagne, also called Porta Napoli, is the oldest gate: Frederick II had it built, and it was completed in 1243. Next to it, the five-sided Bastione Carlo V bears on its corner the coats of arms of the emperor and of the viceroy of Naples.
Porta Lecce, the city's second gate, was commissioned by Ferdinand of Aragon and completed in 1464. It carries three coats of arms: that of Brindisi, that of Charles V and, in the center, that of his military architect Ferdinando Alarcon.
The Torrione dell'Inferno, from 1484, is a round tower joined to the Swabian Castle by a curtain wall, once crenellated, that has survived almost intact. Its name, “Hell's Tower,” probably comes from the forty guns that made it so menacing. Then there is the five-sided Bastione di San Giacomo, which hosts exhibitions and talks.
The first circuit was built by the Messapians; the Romans and Byzantines reinforced it, and the Lombards destroyed it. Frederick II planned new walls for the city, which had grown toward the eastern inlet of the harbor, but the project was never finished.
Fear of the Turks, which grew after the fall of Otranto, drove the Aragonese to build new defenses in the 15th and 16th centuries. With the arrival of modern artillery, Charles V sent Alarcon to rebuild them: Brindisi became so hard to take that in 1537 the Turks gave up on invading it.
By the 18th century the walls and gates served only to collect duties on goods, and in 1776 Andrea Pigonati had several stretches torn down for the work on the harbor. A Spanish map from 1739 preserves the names of bastions that have since vanished: the Arruinado, meaning “ruined,” and the Escorciatore, the “butcher.”
The strongest pieces are on the landward side. Porta Mesagne, also called Porta Napoli, is the oldest gate: Frederick II had it built, and it was completed in 1243. Next to it, the five-sided Bastione Carlo V bears on its corner the coats of arms of the emperor and of the viceroy of Naples.
Porta Lecce, the city's second gate, was commissioned by Ferdinand of Aragon and completed in 1464. It carries three coats of arms: that of Brindisi, that of Charles V and, in the center, that of his military architect Ferdinando Alarcon.
The Torrione dell'Inferno, from 1484, is a round tower joined to the Swabian Castle by a curtain wall, once crenellated, that has survived almost intact. Its name, “Hell's Tower,” probably comes from the forty guns that made it so menacing. Then there is the five-sided Bastione di San Giacomo, which hosts exhibitions and talks.
The first circuit was built by the Messapians; the Romans and Byzantines reinforced it, and the Lombards destroyed it. Frederick II planned new walls for the city, which had grown toward the eastern inlet of the harbor, but the project was never finished.
Fear of the Turks, which grew after the fall of Otranto, drove the Aragonese to build new defenses in the 15th and 16th centuries. With the arrival of modern artillery, Charles V sent Alarcon to rebuild them: Brindisi became so hard to take that in 1537 the Turks gave up on invading it.
By the 18th century the walls and gates served only to collect duties on goods, and in 1776 Andrea Pigonati had several stretches torn down for the work on the harbor. A Spanish map from 1739 preserves the names of bastions that have since vanished: the Arruinado, meaning “ruined,” and the Escorciatore, the “butcher.”