Latiano lies in the province of Brindisi, 22 km south-east of the main town and at an altitude of about 97 metres, at the northern border of the Plain of Lecce. According to the writings of the historian Primaldo Coco, it was probably founded in the XI century. From its origins to the sale of the feud of Latiano (1092-1407) its history was marked by a sequence of Norman and then Swabian, Angevin and then Aragonese dominations. The feud became a Barony in the subsequent centuries, until 1611. When the last Baron, Domenico Imperiali, bought for himself the title of Marquis, the town became the Marquisate of Latiano up to the mid seventeenth century. Then Napoleon suppressed feudality and Latiano followed the destiny of the Reign of Naples, with the rise of banditry. When Italy was unified, the State’s railway connecting Taranto to Brindisi was built (1866) and small industries were founded to use and trade the local resources. As regards the events between the end of last century and the First World War, there is not much information left by the historians because much of the documentation of the historical archive was destroyed by a fire in the town hall caused by a popular revolt that broke out in May 1917 .