Navy Arsenal
The Navy Arsenal is the industrial memory of an Italy that wanted to count on the seas: a 19th-century complex facing the inner harbour, where for decades warships were built, repaired and armed.
The harbour chosen by the Kingdom of Italy
The Arsenal was born in the second half of the 19th century, when the newborn Kingdom of Italy looked to the future with maritime ambitions. Brindisi was not chosen by chance: the stag’s-antler harbour offered sheltered waters, adequate depth and a strategic position on the Adriatic. The city that had watched the crusaders depart returned as a protagonist of Italian naval history.
The severe beauty of function
Great masonry sheds, warehouses, workshops and dry docks: at its height the Arsenal was among the largest in Italy, able to employ thousands of workers. The local limestone mixes with red brick in a plain, efficient language typical of Savoyard military engineering, no superfluous ornament. During the First World War Brindisi was a vital operating base for the Navy in the Adriatic, and the Arsenal worked day and night.
Where it is
Via dei Mille, 3, 72100 Brindisi BR, Italia