Brindisi in Eta Messapica E Romana: Topografia Della Citta

Brundisium (modern day Brindisi), was one of the main Messapic and Roman centres located in a favourable and sheltered position on the Salento Adriatic coast of Apulia. The city was served by the Via Appia, the main ancient road of southern Italy and the easy sea connections made it open to contacts with both Greek and Eastern worlds. Numerous archaeological findings were made during the second half of the 19th century and throughout the 1950s consistent urban and industrial expansion of the centre of Brindisi (which superimposed on the ancient one). This evidence is an extremely rich documentary base, although very fragmented and therefore requiring a careful revision and elaboration by means of an archaeological cartography which helps the topographical reconstruction and understanding. The analysis and critical reading of the acquired information integrated with data obtained from historical, epigraphic and numismatic sources, as well as archive documentation and historical cartography enabled us to propose an outline of the evolutionary process of ancient urban shape, from the first important evidence of the archaic period, to the development of the Messapic settlement, the foundation of the Latin colony, the transformations of the imperial age, up to the first signs of the late antique age discontinuity. So many phases in succession resulted in a very stratified and complex historical reality. And for the first time, a systematic reconstruction of such reality is being proposed in this volume.As the Roman period is more articulated and richer in testimonies, specific attention was paid to the urban layout, the sector functional specializations, and the city elements, i.e., walls, streets, public spaces and neighbourhoods, monuments and necropolis.