The civic coat of arms of Gallipoli is marked by a cock and a Latin inscription that means "watch over faithfully." The toponym derives, probably, from the Greek "Kalos- Polis" that is, "beautiful town." As the origins of Gallipoli are concerned the town might have been founded by some people coming from a near village, Alezio. Unfortunately there is no paper that can prove the origins of Gallipoli, so there are only some legendary theories. For instance, for some historians, Idomeneo , after the war of Troy, took refuge on the coasts of the Salento and founded Gallipoli; the cock of the civic coat of arms was engraved on his shield. According to an other hypothesis, the town was founded in the IV century B.C. by some Greek coming from Sicily: they decided to engrave the cock on the coat of arms since they believed that the animal had protected them during the trip. In 265 B.C. Gallipoli was under the Roman domination. The Vandals destroyed it in 450 B.C. and in 542 B.C. Totila razed it to the ground again. By the middle of the VI century A.C. it was reconstructed by the Greek of the East Roman Empire: they abolished the Latin rite and imposed the Greek one, that was performed until the XVI century. During the Greek domination Gallipoli became very important for the ships. The Longobards never succeed in conquering this town , but in the XI century the Normans, led by Beomondo of Altavilla, took possession of the town and tried to replace the Greek rite with the Latin one. The Normans were succeeded by the Swabians, and in 1269 by the Angevins that destroyed the town, thus causing a lot of people to take refuge in the neighbouring villages. In the XIV century Gallipoli was incorporated into the Principality of Taranto, and a slow process of repopulation began. In 1463 Ferdinand I of Aragon fortified the town, that however was attacked and defeated by the Venetians in 1484. The following year, the Aragoneses conquered it again. In the XVI century after the Spanish domination there was the French one (1528). The French however were defeated by the inhabitants in a short time. Later Gallipoli was incorporated into the Kingdom of Naples. Frederic II of Bourbon was very fond of the town so, he made the harbour building finish. The most important native characters of Gallipoli are several, one of them is Antonietta De Pace. She was born in 1818 and belonged to a wealthy family; she was brought up by her sister and her brother-in-law since her parents died when she was only eight. Her brother-in-law, Epaminonda Valentini was one of Mazzini's supporters and he transmitted her all the Renaissance ideas. After his death ( in the jail of Lecce in miserable conditions), Antonietta moved to Naples to struggle against the Bourbons. She helped Giuseppe Mazzini a lot and she collected funds for Garibaldi's mission. In 1866 she spent terrible moments for the death of her nephew, Francesco; she died some years later in 1893 at Capodimonte after her dream had come true: the Unity of Italy. Giuseppe Tricarico was born in 1623, he became a musician after studying in Naples. He became very famous when the Empress of Austria invited him to Vienna, where he stayed for five years; he died in Italy in 1697. Giovanni Andrea Coppola was born in 1597, he was a physician and a brilliant artist. His paintings can be seen in many churches of the Salento; he died in 1659. Giovanni Presta was born in 1720, he was a physician and an agronomist; for his zeal and his cleverness the Empress Catherine II and Ferdinando IV gave him a medal. He died in the 1797 in his native town, after devoting himself to the study of the agrarian goods of his time: the oil and the tobacco.