3-021-629 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The new overland route to India: town and port of Brindisi, [Italy], 1869. 'A conspicuous object at Brindisi is the old castle, on the northwest side of the harbour; its foundations are washed by the sea, in front, and defended by a fosse in the rear. It was built originally by the Emperor Frederick II., that boldest and cleverest Prince of the Suabian dynasty, who ridiculed the authority of Pope and priest, and enlisted a guard of Saracens for his palace at Palermo, where he composed sarcastic pamphlets, or amorous Italian songs, in the intervals of his State business. This castle, however, was finished or rebuilt 300 years later, by another Emperor, the craftiest and one of the mightiest rulers of Europe - namely, Charles V., who reigned, as King of Spain, over this part of Italy. It is now a mere provincial gaol for common malefactors. The old walls of the town are crumbling into ruins. Some of the old churches are likewise dilapidated, having suffered from earthquakes. That of San Giovanni claims to be so ancient as the third century; that of the Knights Templars is round in shape, like the Temple church in London. Brindisi is the see of an Archbishop, whose cathedral is shown at the back of our view, behind the two pillars'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.