Introduction
Brindisi is in Puglia, the boot-heel of Italy. It's the terminus of the old Appian Way, down which the Roman Legions used to march on their way to conquer the world. At Brindisi they'd take ship and sail off to distant ports.
Brindisi's port is still important. It's a commercial and industrial town, which may be a legacy of the flourishing commerce during the Pax Romana, for which the Appian Way served as an artery.
Brindisi's also a friendly town. I've been in a traffic jam there with hardly a horn honked, and no hand gestures. I've been in a restaurant when a group of people came in for a banquet, each one of whom greeted me on the way by, while my food grew cold on the fork halfway to my mouth.
On my way to Ankara in a Cessna 172 in March of 2006, I had to wait for weather in Brindisi, and I wandered around with a camera in my hand. It would have been good to have had a guide book in my other hand. Maybe next time...
