Brindisi: the end of the Appian Way
Let me be honest from the start: Brindisi is a working port and a gateway, not a postcard town like nearby Ostuni or Lecce. But it is where the great Roman road from Rome finally met the sea, where Virgil died and where ferries still leave for Greece. Give its compact old town a half day, or use it as an easy, un-touristy base for the Salento and the Valle d’Itria.
Best things to do in Brindisi
Brindisi is a working port that happens to be two thousand years old, and the two things sit on top of each other: the column that ends the Appian Way looks down on the ferry terminal. Everything from 1 to 11 below is in the old town or a short walk from it, and a half day covers it comfortably. The order is the one we would actually walk.
1. Climb the Scalinata Virgilio to the Roman column
Come at it from the water, up the monumental staircase, so the column arrives above you the way it arrived for anyone coming off a ship. There were two columns and now there is one: the second fell in 1528 and its pieces went to Lecce, where they hold up Sant’Oronzo. The stump of it is still there beside the survivor, which is the detail most people walk past.
2. Get inside the Castello Svevo, if your dates allow
Frederick II started it in 1227, Ferdinand of Aragon wrapped it in the outer wall and four round towers, Murat turned it into a prison in 1814 and the Navy bought it in 1909. It is still Navy property, home of the Brigata Marina San Marco, so you cannot just walk in: it opens one weekend a month, Saturday and Sunday, at 9.00 and 10.30, free, and you have to book. Worth planning a day around.
3. Cross to the Castello Alfonsino, which has reopened
The other castle sits on the island at the harbour mouth, built from 1481 for Ferdinand of Aragon on the ruins of a Benedictine abbey, then swallowed by the huge Forte a Mare under Philip II. The Navy left in 1983. Guided visits run again with slots at 10.00, 12.00, 16.00 and 18.00, booking required. Check before you trust anything you read: the city’s own website still says it is closed for restoration.
4. Read the cathedral for what is missing
Pope Urban II consecrated the perimeter in 1089, and then an earthquake brought the church down in 1743 and it was rebuilt. That is why a building with a date like that looks eighteenth-century: what survived is fragments of the medieval mosaic floor and an inscription on the outside of the right apse. It holds the relics of San Teodoro d’Amasea, the city’s patron.
5. Stand inside San Giovanni al Sepolcro
A round church, and not round by accident: it is the closest surviving copy of the Anastasis rotunda, the round building over the tomb inside the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Crusaders left from this port, and they built the thing they were going to see. Inside there is a ring of columns, fragments of fresco from several different centuries, and a circular opening cut in the floor at the centre.
6. Go out to Santa Maria del Casale
It stands away from the centre, out towards the airport, and it is worth the taxi. Begun in the last years of the thirteenth century and already documented in 1306, its front is banded in two colours of stone in a pattern you will not see anywhere else in Puglia. In 1310 the tribunal that tried the Templars met inside it, chaired by the archbishop of Brindisi.
7. The Ribezzo museum, and the bronzes nobody expects
You enter from Piazza Duomo through a thirteenth-century Templar portico, which is already the best doorway in town. The museum was founded in 1884 and runs to six sections, but the reason to go is the underwater room: the Punta del Serrone bronzes, found on the seabed off the city in 1992, displayed against a reconstruction of a ship’s prow. Tuesday to Sunday, 9.00 to 19.15, closed Monday, and it is free.
8. Walk out to the Monument to the Italian Sailor
The huge stone rudder across the water was inaugurated on 4 November 1933 with the king present. It is not decoration: the crypt underneath carries black marble slabs with the names of 6.850 navy and merchant sailors lost since 1860, and inside hangs the stern bell of the battleship Benedetto Brin, which blew up in this harbour in 1915. You cross by the small boat that shuttles over from the seafront.
9. Watch the ferries go
This is still the point where Italy stops and the east begins, and you can stand and watch it happen: ferries leave for Igoumenitsa, Corfu, Patras and Vlore, mostly in summer. The inner harbour is the reason the city exists, an antler-shaped inlet deep enough for Rome to use and sheltered enough to keep using. Half an hour on a bench there explains Brindisi better than any monument.
10. Do the passeggiata on the lungomare
The seafront promenade runs the length of the inner harbour under palms, and at six in the evening the whole city is on it. It is the least touristy hour in a city that is not very touristy anyway. The light on the water goes gold, the column is lit from below, and the monument sits black against it on the far shore.
11. Buy something at the street market
Brindisi’s street market is the ordinary kind, under awnings between apartment blocks, selling clothes and household things and food to people who live here. It is not a sight and nobody will perform for you, which is exactly why it is worth twenty minutes. This is a city where the everyday is the attraction, and the market is where you can see it without paying for it.
12. Drive north for the sand
The city’s own lidos are ordinary and the proper beaches start about twenty minutes up the coast, inside the Torre Guaceto reserve. Punta Penna Grossa is 1,4 km of fine pale sand with shallow water; Apani is free, quieter and backed by low red cliffs. Because it is a protected reserve the facilities are thin on purpose, so take what you need with you.
The end of the Appian Way
Brindisi’s whole identity comes from its harbour: a deep, sheltered, antler-shaped inlet that made it the natural place for Rome to reach the sea on its way east. The Romans knew it as Brundisium, and it was one of the most important ports in the ancient Mediterranean.
The Via Appia, begun in 312 BC and later joined by the Via Traiana, ran all the way from Rome to end here, which is why Brindisi was the empire’s chief point of embarkation for Greece and the East. Armies, merchants and emperors passed through; in 19 BC the poet Virgil, returning ill from a voyage to Greece, died in the town. In 2024 the Via Appia, the "queen of roads", was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, Italy’s sixtieth site.
After Rome, the harbour kept Brindisi in the story: a launch point for the Crusades (hence the round Templar-era church of San Giovanni al Sepolcro), a Swabian and Aragonese stronghold and, for a few months in 1943 to 1944, the temporary capital of Italy. Today the same port sends ferries to the Balkans and Greece, and the town lives its unhurried, workaday life around it.
| Brindisi in brief | Note |
|---|---|
| Region | Province of Brindisi, Salento, Puglia |
| Roman name | Brundisium, the great port of the East |
| The road | Terminus of the Via Appia (UNESCO, 2024) |
| The column | One of two survives; the other fell in 1528 |
| Virgil | The Roman poet died here in 19 BC |
| Today | Ferry port to Greece and Albania; BDS airport |
Brindisi sits on the Adriatic between Ostuni and Lecce, the gateway to the heel of the boot.
Where to stay in Brindisi
My honest steer: many travellers see Brindisi around a ferry or a flight and sleep elsewhere, and that is fine. But it also makes a genuinely useful, un-touristy and inexpensive base for the Salento, with fast trains to Lecce and Ostuni. If you stay, choose the old town or the lungomare, near the harbour and the column, rather than the port’s industrial edge.
Compare live prices for hotels and B&Bs in and around Brindisi on the map.
Our top experiences in Brindisi
Brindisi rewards a guided walk of its layered old town, and it is a handy launchpad for the Salento and Valle d’Itria. Live availability and prices come via GetYourGuide.
See live tours and activities in Brindisi
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When to go to Brindisi
Brindisi is not a seasonal town, which makes it easier than most of Puglia: it works all year, and the calendar question is really about what you want to do while you are here.
April to early June and September to October are the two windows we would pick. The old town is walkable in the middle of the day, the museum and the churches are open without a queue anywhere, and the light on the harbour in the evening is the best it gets. September has the warmer sea if you are pairing the city with the beaches at Torre Guaceto; May has the emptier streets.
July and August are hot and the city thins out rather than fills up: the crowd goes to the coast, so Brindisi itself stays quiet while the beaches twenty minutes north do not. Ferries to Greece and Albania run at their fullest, which is worth knowing in both directions: more sailings to watch, and more traffic around the port. Do the monuments before eleven and keep the afternoon for the water.
Winter is the honest surprise. The cathedral, the museum, the two round churches and the column are all there, the ferries still run, and you will have the lungomare to yourself. Two things to plan around: the Castello Svevo only opens one weekend a month, so check the date before you build a trip around it, and the beach businesses at Torre Guaceto shut. Best time to visit Puglia
Getting to Brindisi
Brindisi is one of the easiest places in Puglia to reach without a car: it has its own airport and sits on the main Adriatic railway, so trains link it quickly to the Salento towns.
| From | Distance | By train |
|---|---|---|
| Brindisi airport (BDS) | ~6 km | bus/taxi ~15 min |
| Ostuni | ~35 km | ~20 min |
| Lecce | ~40 km | ~30 min |
| Taranto | ~70 km | ~1 hr |
| Bari | ~110 km | ~1 hr 20 |
By sea: ferries run from Brindisi to Greece (Igoumenitsa, Corfu, Patras) and Albania (Vlore), mostly in summer. Check current schedules. · Best towns in Puglia
Flying in? Brindisi-Salento (BDS) is Puglia’s second airport, about 6 km from the centre, with low-cost flights from the UK and Europe (Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, mostly seasonal). It is the natural gateway for the southern Salento. A fixed-price private airport transfer saves hassle on arrival, and an Italy eSIM gets you online at once. For exploring beyond the train line, see renting a car in Puglia, or the wider getting to Puglia guide.
Beaches near Brindisi
Brindisi itself is a port rather than a beach town, and the lidos on the city’s doorstep are ordinary. The proper sand starts about twenty minutes north, inside the Torre Guaceto reserve.
Punta Penna Grossa is the one most people mean: 1.4 km of fine pale sand inside the protected area, roughly 15 km from the city, with shallow clear water that suits families. A little further round, Apani is free and quieter, backed by low red cliffs that give the sand a rusty tint, with paid parking about 100 m back. Because it is a reserve the facilities are deliberately thin, so bring what you need and check which zones allow swimming before you set off. For the rest of the coast, see our guide to the best beaches in Puglia.
Day trips from Brindisi
Brindisi’s real value as a base is how much sits within half an hour or so: the white city, the baroque capital of the Salento, and the trulli valley are all an easy hop.
Ostuni
The dazzling White City · ~20 min by train · Ostuni guide
Lecce
The baroque heart of the Salento · ~30 min by train · Lecce guide
The Valle d’Itria
Trulli, Martina Franca & Locorotondo · ~40 min
All destinations
Best time to visit
Spring and autumn are the sweet spots for the old town and the lungomare, with mild days and the harbour at its best; ferry sailings to Greece are most frequent in high summer. Best time to visit Puglia
Keep planning
Practical guides: Getting to Puglia · Getting around Puglia · Renting a car · The drive from Ostuni to Lecce
Brindisi: FAQ
Is Brindisi worth visiting?
Yes, but with the right expectations. Brindisi is a working port and transport city, not a polished tourist town like Ostuni or Lecce. Its compact old town, with the Roman column at the end of the Appian Way, the castle, cathedral and harbour lungomare, is worth a half day, and it makes an easy, authentic and inexpensive base for the Salento and Valle d’Itria.
What is Brindisi known for?
Being the ancient end of the Roman Via Appia, marked by the Roman column above its harbour; as the place where the poet Virgil died in 19 BC; and today as a major Adriatic ferry port to Greece and Albania, with Brindisi-Salento airport serving the southern Salento.
Where does the Appian Way end?
At Brindisi. The surviving Roman column at the top of the harbour staircase traditionally marks the terminus of the Via Appia, the great Roman road from Rome. There were once two columns; the second collapsed in 1528, and its remains were taken to Lecce for the monument of Sant’Oronzo. The Via Appia became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2024.
How do you get from Brindisi to Lecce or Ostuni?
By train on the main Adriatic line: Ostuni is about 20 minutes and Lecce about 30 minutes from Brindisi, with frequent daily services. This makes Brindisi a practical car-free base. Note that Ostuni’s station sits below the hilltop old town, so you will need a short shuttle or taxi up.
Can you get ferries from Brindisi to Greece?
Yes. Brindisi is a major Adriatic ferry port with seasonal crossings to Greece, including Igoumenitsa and Corfu (roughly eight to ten hours) and Patras, plus routes to Vlore in Albania. Sailings are most frequent in summer, so check current schedules before you travel.
Can you visit the castles in Brindisi?
Both, but neither on impulse. The Castello Svevo is a naval base and opens to the public one weekend a month, Saturday and Sunday at 9.00 and 10.30, free, with booking required. The Castello Alfonsino, on the island at the harbour mouth, has reopened for guided visits with slots at 10.00, 12.00, 16.00 and 18.00, also by booking. Check both before you travel: the city’s own site still lists the Alfonsino as closed.
Is the archaeological museum in Brindisi free?
Yes. The Museo Archeologico Provinciale Francesco Ribezzo, on Piazza Duomo beside the cathedral, is free and opens Tuesday to Sunday from 9.00 to 19.15, closed on Monday; groups of up to 25 need to book. Its best room holds the Punta del Serrone bronzes, recovered from the seabed off the city in 1992.
Where are the nearest beaches to Brindisi?
The city’s own lidos are ordinary. The proper sand is about twenty minutes north, inside the Torre Guaceto marine reserve: Punta Penna Grossa is 1,4 km of fine pale sand with shallow water that suits families, and Apani is free, quieter and backed by low red cliffs. Facilities in the reserve are deliberately thin, so take what you need with you.
Related: Ostuni · Lecce · All destinations · Best time to visit
I grew up in the province of Brindisi, so this is home ground. I will not oversell the city as a beach destination it is not, but I love the harbour at dusk, and it is the smartest, cheapest base a lot of Salento visitors overlook. Everything above is checked on the ground and against the sources. More about who is behind this guide