The Patrons
San Lorenzo and San Teodoro
San Lorenzo da Brindisi and San Teodoro di Amasea are the listed patrons, with the principal feast on the first weekend of September. A horseback procession is part of the city's patronal celebration.
— Castellesi
CASTELLESI COMUNE
Brindisi,
Puglia
An Adriatic port whose older province was Lecce.
Brindisi has one of the best natural harbours on the Adriatic, and it has been the crossing point to Greece and the East for two thousand years — the terminus of the Appian Way , marked by a column still standing above the water.
Its province, though, dates only from 1927 . Before that this was the Terra d'Otranto , governed from Lecce.
The Province
Terra d'Otranto
The Province of Brindisi was created only in 1927. Earlier records were created under Lecce or the older name Terra d'Otranto, except for specific comuni transferred from Bari in the same reform.
The Landmark
Duomo di Brindisi
The Duomo di Brindisi belongs to an archiepiscopal city whose modern see is Brindisi-Ostuni. For provincial families, however, church jurisdiction can differ by comune and must be matched to the period.
Did you know?
THREE PROVINCES CAN ENTER THE SEARCH
Brindisi begins only in 1927
Before 1927, most of modern Brindisi province belonged to Lecce/Terra d'Otranto. But Cisternino and Fasano came from Bari, so their older records follow the Terra di Bari trail instead. The modern provincial map therefore cannot be applied uniformly backward.
LA PARLATA
How they speak
Italian is standard. Local speech may include Apulian varieties, with Salentino varieties in the south.
Before Brindisi had a province
Brundisium was the Roman gateway to the East. The Appian Way ended here, and from this harbour the legions, the officials and the traders sailed for Greece, Asia and Egypt. Virgil died in the city in 19 BC on his way home from Greece. One of the two columns marking the road's end still stands at the top of the harbour steps.
The harbour kept the city relevant through the Byzantine and Norman centuries, and the Crusades made it a departure point again — pilgrims and armies embarked here for the Holy Land, and the round church of San Giovanni al Sepolcro belongs to that period.
Under the Kingdom, Brindisi was a town of the Terra d'Otranto . Its modern revival came with the Valigia delle Indie , the British mail and passenger route to India that ran overland through Europe and took ship at Brindisi from the 1870s — which rebuilt the port's international importance.
In 1927 the province of Brindisi was created from the Terra d'Otranto, taking in also Cisternino and Fasano from the province of Bari.
In September 1943 , after the armistice, the king and the government withdrew here, and Brindisi was briefly the capital of Italy.
Postcards from Brindisi
Wear Brindisi
WANT TO SEE BRINDISI REPRESENTED?
Castellesi hasn't made anything for this place yet. Requests are how we decide which comuni come next — every one is read, and the places people ask for are the places that get made.
REQUEST BRINDISI →Where this
belongs
belongs
PROVINCIA DI BRINDISI
Discover the beauty, culture and traditions of Brindisi and its remarkable comuni.
EXPLORE BRINDISI →REGIONE PUGLIA
From the mountains to the sea, Puglia is a region of history, flavor and soul.
EXPLORE PUGLIA →From the passenger index
At least 461 people who gave Brindisi as their home are recorded by name among Italian arrivals in the United States — each with the ship they sailed on and the day they landed.
A floor, not a total. The index covers arrivals through 1912, holds nothing between May 1907 and December 1911, and many passengers were written down with no home town at all. Where a name is there, it is there with its record.
Have Orso look for your family →Ready to visit
A harbour, a column, and the trulli behind
Getting there
The nearest major airport is Brindisi Airport.
Brindisi is a working port and most travellers pass through it to a ferry. The old town around the harbour rewards a walk — the Roman column above the steps, the cathedral, the round Crusader church.
For a descendant the province is likely to matter more than the city. Ostuni , Cisternino , Ceglie Messapica and Fasano are within half an hour inland, in the Valle d'Itria — and if your family came from Fasano or Cisternino, remember their older records lead back to Bari rather than Lecce.
Lecce is forty minutes south, and holds the Terra d'Otranto archive.
What to see
The Roman column — the terminus of the Appian Way, above the harbour steps.
San Giovanni al Sepolcro — the round Crusader church.
The Cattedrale and the old town — around the inner harbour.
Ostuni — the white hill town north of the city.
The Valle d'Itria — Cisternino, Ceglie, Fasano and the trulli country.
Your family's parish — and check which province held it before 1927.
Family history
Where the records are
Archives and registers
The archive's own comune list confirms the 1927 trap: Cisternino and Fasano appear only from 1866.
Browse the Brindisi civil registers on Antenati
Civil status 1809–1960 for the comuni of the province. Note that Cisternino and Fasano are listed only from 1866, and San Michele Salentino only from 1912, having been a frazione of San Vito before that.
antenati.cultura.gov.itBrowse the Bari civil registers on Antenati
For Cisternino and Fasano before they came to Brindisi — they were Bari province comuni, so the older trail runs through the Terra di Bari material.
antenati.cultura.gov.itBrowse the Lecce civil registers on Antenati
For the rest of the province before 1927, when this territory was part of Terra d'Otranto. Conscription lists before 1927 were sent to the Lecce or Bari offices, not to Brindisi, which had none until the province was created.
antenati.cultura.gov.itRelated places
Keep exploring
The journey does not end at the boundary of one comune. The province, the region and the neighbouring towns often hold the rest of the picture.