B R I 



Brim!;.-!, benefited by the presence of the emperor Frederick, 

 v~' who made it a principal place of rendezvous to his ar- 

 maments for the Holy Land ; but by the loss of Jerusa- 

 lem, the fail of the Greek empire, the conquest of the 

 i jit by the Turks, and the consequent ruin of the 

 trade of the Levant, the town of Brindisi lost all its 

 importance, and was reduced to a state of desolation, 

 from which it has never recovered. 



Of ancient Brundusium little now remains but the 

 column of the light-house ; a large marble bason, into 

 which the water flows from brazen hcadsoiceer; num- 

 bers of broken pillars, which have been removed from 

 thtir 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, ru- 

 ins of aqueducts, and a few other similar vestiges of 

 antiquity. 



Of the present city of Brindisi, the walls still in- 

 clude 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 appearance ; and none of the public edifices in 

 any respect remarkable. The only structures at all 

 deserving of notice, are the cathedral, built by king 

 Roger, and dedicated to St Theodore ; the citadel, 

 a large and stately building, erected by the emperor 

 Frederick 1 1. to defend the northern branch of the 

 harbour, and repaired by Charles V. ; and the walls 

 of a palace, near the port, built by Walter de Bri- 

 cnne, of gray stone, divided, at regular distances, by 

 broad courses of black marble, but the greater part 

 of which haa been pulled down, to supply materials 

 for the new canal at the entrance of the inner har- 

 bour. 



But the most remarkable object in Brindisi ia its 

 double harbour, which has a very peculiar appear- 

 ance, and is reckoned the finest in the Adriatic. Two 

 promontories stretching out gradually as they ad- 

 vance into the sea, form the outer port, which is pro- 

 tected from the fury of the waves, by the island of St 

 Andrew lying between the capes, and which thus 

 presents a large triangular space, in which vessels of 

 considerable burden 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 

 wattr 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 

 head 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 .siiiking of the ground, in con- 

 sequence of an earthquake, as the hills around it are 

 upon an exact level, and exhibit parallel correspond- 

 ent 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 trade. The 

 communication between the two havens, was former- 

 ly marked out by means of lights, placed upon co- 

 lumns .$ the Corinthian order, erected on a rising 

 ground in a direct line with the channel. Only one 

 1 



B R I 



of these, of a green and white marble, remains entire Eria 

 upon its pedestal. Its capital is adorned with figures * 

 of syrens and tritons, intermingled with the acanthus 

 leaf ; and upon the summit is a circular vase, which 

 formerly contained the fire. The soil in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the town is light and good, and produ- 

 ces excellent cotton, of which the inhabitants manu- 

 facture stockings and gloves. The position of the 

 place is centrical, and in the whole kingdom of Na- 

 ples a finer situation for trade is not to be found. But, 

 by one fatal circumstance, the obstruction of the 

 channel, which unites the outer and inner havens, this 

 unhappy city was deprived of all its natural advanta- 

 ges, and desolated by the most afflicting evils. It 

 ruin maybe said to have been begun by Julius Caesar, 

 when, in order to block up the fleet of Pompey, he 

 drove piles, and threw heaps of rubbish into the space 

 of communication. 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 description. In 1752, the bank 

 had increased so much, that, except in rainy seasons, 

 and during violent easterly winds, even the waves 

 were completely excluded ; and, from that period, 

 the inner port became a green fetid lake, full of nox- 

 ious insects, and infectious effluviae ; so that no fish 

 could live in it but eels, and no boat ply upon its sur- 

 face 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, de- 

 stroyed 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, torment- 

 ed with agues and fevers ; and of this number not less 

 than 1500 were carried to their graves during the au- 

 tumn 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 health. In this state of wretchedness the re- 

 maining citizens applied for relief to Don Carlo De- 

 marco, one of the king's ministers, who was himself a 

 native of Brindisi ; and, in consequence of this re- 

 presentation, Don Andrea Pigonati, an able engi- 

 neer, was sent with plans and instructions for the im- 

 provement of the harbour. The marshes, at each ex- 

 tremity 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 chan- 

 nel 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 

 ar.d medals were found by the workmen ; and many 

 of the oak piles which had been driven in by Caesar, 

 and which had remained above eighteen centunob se- 

 ven feet under the sa;.d, were drawn up in as fivsh a 

 state as if they had been cut only a month before. 



