Brindisi - Castello alfonsino

Settlers, who did trade with Greece, lived here already during the Bronze Age. After the Punic Wars it became a major center of Roman naval power and maritime trade. After the decline of the Roman Empire Brindisi was conquered by Ostrogoths, and reconquered by the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century. In 674 it was destroyed by the Lombards led by Romuald I of Benevento, It was rebuilt and within the 9th century. It was under Saracen rule from 836 to 868, when it was retaken by the Byantines. In 1070, it was conquered by the Normans, led by Robert Guiskard.

Brindisi flourished under the Staufer and developed into a privileged port for the Holy Land during the period of Crusades. It was an Episcopal See and a new cathedral was constructed, in which the wedding of Norman Prince Roger III of Sicily and Irene Angelina, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos took place. Emperor Frederick II and Isabella of Brienne embarked from the port of Brindisi in 1228 for the Sixth Crusade.

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Brindisi has this fine natural harbour, an inlet that runs deep into the Adriatic coast. The harbour was already used by the first settlers. It was very important for the Roman Empire and in the times of crusades one of the main ports in Southern Italy.

Seen in the distance is the "Castello alfonsino", securing the entrance of the "inner harbour". Already in the 11th century, a Benedictine abbey existed on the island that was later abandoned. So in the 14th and 16th century the "Forte a Mare" was erected.