Colonne romane del porto

Brindisi's Roman harbour columns stand above the inner port at the head of the Virgilian staircase. One column survives substantially upright; the remains of its fallen companion recall a monument whose later history also reaches Lecce.

Why it matters

The columns became an emblem of Brindisi's role as a meeting point between land routes and Adriatic navigation. Their familiar association with the end of the Via Appia is a tradition rather than a securely established original function.

What to notice

The standing column's shaft rises above a marble-clad base. Replacements at the top distinguish the outdoor monument from original elements preserved at Palazzo Granafei-Nervegna. Beside it, the base and a surviving drum of the second column make the pair's altered condition clear.

The elevated setting frames the narrow channel of the inner harbour, connecting the monument visually with the maritime landscape.

Context and history

One column collapsed in 1528. In the seventeenth century, material from it was transferred to Lecce for the monument of Sant'Oronzo. Later restoration and the modern staircase changed the presentation of the surviving column, adding another chapter to the Roman monument's long civic afterlife.