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Taranto is one of the largest cities in both the Apulia region and in Southern Italy. It is a city that lies along the coast of the Gulf of Taranto, and in fact the city calls itself the Capital of the Seas. The reason is that the Great Sea/Mar Grande lies west of the center and the Little Sea/Mar Piccolo lagoon lies to the east.
The old center is located on an island, and it was Greeks who built the historic Taranto in their time. You can still see remains from the Greek era; not least with the preserved columns from the old Poseidon temple. The temple ruins are located in today’s center on the border between the old town and the new and larger district, Borgo Nouvo.
There are several things to see in Taranto. The cathedral in the old town is the city’s most noteworthy building, and you should also take a walk through the narrow streets and alleys of the historic quarter, which in some places have been abandoned, which gives a special atmosphere. The castle Castello Aragonese should also be seen, just as a trip along the Lungomare promenade with the government building is also a must.
Taranto is very well located for excursions in Apulia and the neighboring region of Basilicata. Apulia’s lovely beaches are a few kilometers from Taranto, but are perhaps most beautiful around Porto Cesareo. The baroque city of Lecce, exciting Gallipoli and the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Alberobello and Matera are also good excursion destinations.
The Greeks already built in the 300-200s BC. fortifications in the Taranto of the time. The current Castello Aragonese, formally called Castel San Angelo, was built on the same site.
In 1481, digging was done around the old fortifications, and the canal between the Great Sea/Mar Grande and the Little Sea/Mar Piccolo was built. The current sea fort was built in the 1480s and 1490s under Naples’ king Ferdinand II of Aragon. The fort was successfully defended during an Ottoman attack in 1594, but otherwise played out its military role as artillery was introduced. Thus, the Castello Aragonese was rebuilt for artillery with a number of gun emplacements.
In 1707, the fort was converted into a prison, and only during the Napoleonic Wars was it used as a fort again. The most famous prisoners imprisoned were the French generals Thomas-Alexandre Dumas and Jean-Baptiste Felix de Manscourt du Rozoy. They sought port in Taranto in 1799 when their ship had been damaged.
In 1883, the fort was transferred to the Italian Navy, which still has its primary base in Taranto. In the same year, the fort’s former tower was demolished. Today, the fort is open for visitors, where you can take a closer look at the site and its interesting history.
Taranto’s old town is the place where the Greeks once built their fortified city, the acropolis. Today, the district is a jumble of narrow streets with basically the same street network as in the 20th century. Through streets were built, the present Corso Vittorio II, Via Duomo, Via di Mezzo and Via Garibaldi, while the side streets were narrower and crooked, so that any attackers could not storm the city quickly.
Until the middle of the 18th century, the entire population of the city lived on the island between the newer bridges, Ponte Girevole and Ponte di Porta Napoli. Today, it is almost the other way around, with very few residents in the old town.
A stroll in Città Vecchia is an attraction in itself. Along the way, you can e.g. see the city’s cathedral and a number of palazzos from the 17th-18th centuries, where the local aristocracy once lived. You can also see a lot of street art around the district. It was started in the 2010s with many paintings on some of the abandoned buildings.
The Government Palace of Taranto is the seat of the administration of the Province of Taranto and of the Police Bureau of the city. It is located at La Rotonda del Lungomare square and is the most distinctive building along Taranto’s seaside promenade. The Palazzo del Governo is also one of the city’s landmarks.
The Politeama Alhambra theater was formerly located on this site. The theater building was dilapidated and was demolished. This left room for the architect Armando Brasini’s government palace, which was inaugurated by Benito Mussolini on 7 September 1934.
Taranto Cathedral is a beautiful church building that has been built in different styles since 1071, which can be seen today with features from the non-Romanesque style and the late Baroque. The facade is from 1713 and originates from a Baroque reconstruction.
The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Cataldus, who was an Irish monk who lived in the 6th century. He went to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage, and on the way back he was shipwrecked near the coast of Taranto. The townspeople encouraged Cataldus to stay in Taranto, where he became bishop and later archbishop.
There are many things worth seeing in the church. Note the partially preserved floor mosaics from 1160 and the beautifully decorated chapel of Saint Cataldus. Also see the cathedral’s crypt, which originates from a former church on the site.
The National Archaeological Museum of Taranto was founded in 1887 by Luigi Viola, who wanted to establish a museum for the historical Magna Graecia, which was the Greek area of present-day Italy.
The museum is one of the finest of its kind in southern Italy, and you can see fine finds in the museum’s exciting exhibitions. This concerns, among other things, about gold from ancient Taranto. You can also see an exhibition of finds from the time of the Roman Empire at the museum, which was established in a former monastery building.
The Palazzo degli Uffici is one of Borgo Nuovo’s largest and most impressive buildings. The large building is located almost like a small castle on Piazza Archita at the end of a visual axis from Piazza Castello by the old town.
Construction began at the end of the 18th century, when Ferdinand IV issued a royal decree on the construction of an orphanage for, among other things, military orphans. The foundation stone was laid in 1791, but construction stopped in 1799.
The municipality later bought the building and the land, and in 1872 it was decided to complete the mansion to house public offices. The inauguration took place in 1896. For a number of years, one of Taranto’s best-known educational institutions was located here, and several well-known people such as Aldo Moro studied here.
Officially named Ponte San Francesco di Paola, this bridge was opened in 1887 and crosses the canal between the Borgo Antico district and the newer Borgo Nuovo. The channel is for seagoing ships and connects the Great Sea/Mar Grande and the Little Sea/Mar Piccolo, which is a lagoon to the east. The bridge is 90 meters/295 feet long.
The canal was dug in 1481 to strengthen the defense of Taranto with Castello Aragonese as the central part. The current bridge was opened in 1958 and is a swing bridge where the two halves of the bridge swing to lie parallel to the canal when the bridge is open. The opening is a special sight and the bridge is one of Taranto’s landmarks.
However, Ponte Girevole opens very rarely, as former shipyards in Mar Piccolo have moved and because the Italian Navy has moved everything but submarines from Mar Piccolo to Mar Grande.
Piazza Archita is one of the central squares of Taranto and forms a sort of center in the Borgo Nuovo district. There is a small park in the square with a nice pavilion, and around Piazza Archita you can see several interesting buildings.
The most characteristic is the Palazzo degli Uffici, which is one of Borgo Nuovo’s largest and most impressive buildings. The large building is almost like a small castle on Piazza Archita, and it forms the end of a visual axis from Piazza Castello by the old town.
From Taranto’s Greek times as the city of Taras, several preserved remains can be seen. The most famous and impressive are the two large columns from the city’s temple dedicated to the god Poseidon. The columns can be seen in central Taranto, where they stand beautifully in their typical Doric order design.
The temple is from the 5th century BC. and is thereby the oldest in the so-called Magna Graecia, which is the Latin name for the historical Greek colonies in what is now southern Italy.
The temple fell into disrepair in the Middle Ages, and it was used as building material for other constructions in the city. For that reason, it has not been possible to establish a precise plan of the appearance of the ancient temple.
Palazzo di Città is Taranto’s town hall. The beautiful building was built in its original style in the years 1864-1869, but was later extended.
Formerly the military governor of Taranto had his seat here, and he was assisted in governing the city by a council of citizens. Today, the town hall is home to Taranto’s city council and part of the city council’s administration.
This is one of Taranto’s great churches and is believed to date from the 16th century. It is located in the district of Borgo Nuovo and therefore not in the historic city centre.
The Chiesa del Carmine has been rebuilt and extended several times since the 16th century, and over time it acquired the neoclassical expression. The facade was, for example, created by a reconstruction in 1937. Inside, the church has the shape of a Latin cross. You can see a beautiful church room with a beautiful altar and side chapels.
This is one of Taranto’s great and old churches. It was built from 1302 and stands in the city’s old town in Romanesque-Gothic architecture. On this site there had previously been a Greek temple and a monastery church from the 11th century, which had been abandoned in 1228.
The early construction period characterizes the interior, which is significantly more simply decorated than, for example, the city’s cathedral. However, you can see newer side chapels from the Baroque period. With the associated monastery, San Domenico forms one of Taranto’s oldest and best-preserved complexes in the historic center.
Piazza Castello is one of Taranto’s central squares, and most tourists naturally pass by the square on a stroll through the city, as it is the south-eastern entrance to the old town.
There are several fine sights such as Castello Aragonese and the ruins of the Greek Temple of Poseidon around Piazza Castello, which naturally got its name from the great Aragonese castle.
Lungomare di Taranto is Taranto’s elegant promenade along the sea and at the same time also one of the city’s wonderful recreational spots. The promenade is officially called Lungomare Vittorio Emanuele II, and it is located in the district of Borgo Nuovo. You walk under tall palm trees and trees and can enjoy the view of the sea and impressive buildings from e.g. the fascist era, where the Palazzo del Governo stands as one of the city’s landmarks.
From the rotunda in front of the Palazzo del Governo you can enjoy beautiful sunsets and, in clear weather, see the mountains of the Calabria region. There are also plans for a modern promenade along the old town, Borgo Antico, so that the experience along the water will be expanded.
The Chiesa di San Pasquale is a beautiful Rococo church, built 1749-1794. It was built as a monastery church, and the associated monastery was bought by Taranto and set up as a national museum. Klosterhaven was sold to the Swedish Navy, which established a naval base on the site.
The church continues to operate as a Catholic church and is named after Paschalis Baylon, who was a Spanish Franciscan monk. The interior of the church is worth seeing with style features from rococo and classicism with a main altar from the 17th century, which originally stood in the city’s Santa Chiara monastery.
Ponte di Porta Napoli is one of the two bridges that connect Taranto’s old town with the rest of the city. The bridge is the north-west access to the centre, and it was built when the old bridge from the 9th century had been destroyed by a flood in 1883.
In 1404, the old bridge was fortified with the tower Torre di Raimondello in the present Piazza Fontana, which lies south of the bridge. The tower was demolished at the end of the 19th century, but you can easily imagine the entrance to the old town on Taranto’s central island.
Palazzo delle Poste is Taranto’s fine post office building, built in 1937 in period architecture from Italy’s Fascist era under Benito Mussolini. It was the architect Cesare Bazzini who designed the monumental building.
Palazzo delle Poste is beautifully situated along Taranto’s promenade overlooking the sea. In the decoration of the post office, you can see, among other things, statues of artists and scientists on top of the building’s outer columns.
The Monumento ai Caduti is the largest monument in the Borgo Nuovo district, and it was inaugurated in 1930 in memory of those who fell in the First World War. King Vittorio Emanuele III attended the inauguration of the work of the Taranto artist Francesco Como.
However, the monument was only completed after several decades in 1953. This happened with the statue group Aquilifero, where you can see, among other things, a Roman trireme.
Monumento al Marinaio is a well-known monument in Taranto, home to the largest Italian naval port. The monument is also dedicated to the sailors in the country’s navy. It was Vittorio Di Cobertaldo who created the bronze sculpture in 1974.
The Sailor’s Monument stands on the canal between Mar Grande and Mar Piccolo, and it shows two sailors greeting passing ships. They do this by raising the typical navy cap with their right hand.
Gallipoli is a beautiful and exciting city with a rich history. It was part of Greek Magna Graecia, and today it consists of the old town, located on an island, and the new town, whose main street is the elegant Corso Roma. Historically, Gallipoli has been the Mediterranean’s largest market for trade in olive oil, for which the region of Puglia is still known.
The entire old town is worth seeing for beautiful strolls in the old streets, and the city’s main sights include the castle Castello di Gallipoli, the cathedral Basilica Concattedrale di Sant’Agata Vergine and several other churches. One can also enjoy beautiful beaches in Gallipoli; the beautiful Spiaggia di Baia Verde is immediately south of the city.
Porto Cesareo is a small town that lies beautifully along the coast of the Gulf of Taranto to the southeast of Taranto. The city is not least known for being on some of Italy’s most beautiful and lovely beaches. The water is clear, and in many places it is almost like visiting tropical beaches with the beautiful colors you can experience.
Some of the best beaches are Spiaggia di Torre Lapillo and Spiaggia di Scalo di Furno immediately north of Porto Cesareo and Spiaggia di Punta Prosciutto a little further to the northwest.
Lecce is a city in the region of Puglia, and it is one of Southern Italy’s most visited and must-see cities. This is not least due to Lecce’s old town, which was largely built in exuberant Lecce Baroque. It was the local limestone that made possible the rich Baroque decorations that can be seen all over the city today.
Lecce is called the Florence of Southern Italy, and for good reason. A walk through the city’s streets and squares full of atmospheric architectural highlights. This applies not least to the churches with the cathedral, Santa Chiara, Santa Croce and San Matteo, but also Karl V’s large castle and other facilities.
Throughout history, the city of Brindisi has been an important port for trade with Greece and the Middle East. Thus, it was also here that the famous Via Appia from Rome ended, and today you can see one of the two original Roman columns that marked the end of the road.
In the center of Brindisi, you can also see an 18th-century reconstruction of the city’s cathedral from the 11th-12th centuries, several other churches, the castle Castello Svevo and the sea fort Castello Alfonsino. If you have sailed to or from the city, you will also be able to recognize the Monument to Italian Sailors/Monumento al Marinaio d’Italia.
Otranto is a beautifully situated city on the east coast of the Puglia region. In fact, you can hardly go further east in Italy, and a few kilometers south of the city is Capo d’Otranto, the country’s easternmost point. It is precisely here that the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Sea meet. Otranto is located where the Greek city of Hydros used to be.
In the city you can see the beautiful promenade along the sea, the castle Castello Aragonese from the end of the 15th century and the city’s cathedral with fantastic floor mosaics from the 12th century. If you have the opportunity, you can see some of Puglia’s best-known rock formations at Baia di Torre Sant’Andrea, which lies a good ten kilometers north of Otranto.
Ostuni is one of the Puglia region’s major excursion destinations. It is a city known as The White City/La Città Bianca because of its white walls and many white painted houses that can be seen from afar. And in addition to being famous as a whole for the white houses, there are also various sights that you can especially look at.
Ostuni’s cathedral was built by Friedrich II of Swabia in Romanesque style in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 15th century. With its rose window, it is one of these sights. You can also go to Piazza della Libertà, Ostuni’s central square. Here stands the impressive column, Colonna di Sant’Oronzo, and here is the city’s beautiful town hall.
Alberobello is a town where you can see the special trulli houses that have been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1996. Trulli houses date back to the 15th century and are characterized by thick walls built without the use of mortar and conical roofs.
In Alberobello, the trulli houses date back to the 17th century, when Count Giangirolamo II started the urbanization of the local forest, and thereby he gave permission for the construction of the special houses, which, due to their construction technique, meant that the count did not have to pay taxes to the Spanish Viceroy.
The houses could be completely or partially demolished, whereby they could appear as non-permanent residences, which gave freedom from tax payment. You can see the trulli houses in several places in Alberobello, where they are located, among other things, in the neighborhoods of Rione Monti and Rione Piccola.
Bari on the Adriatic Sea is the second largest city on the southern Italian mainland. It is an active port city with an international profile and many sights, beaches and lovely promenades along the Adriatic Sea, which the city has expanded as a result of the expansion of Bari from the old town.
Bari is very varied from district to district, and it is almost like visiting two different cities. The labyrinth of narrow streets in the old town is a great contrast to the wide boulevards of Joachim Murat’s 19th-century city, and on the border is the street Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, which is worth a stroll in itself.
Matera is a city in the region of Basilicata, and it is known for the neighborhood of Sassi di Matera, where you can see the city’s ancient cave dwellings carved into the porous limestone rocks. It is an exciting experience, and the cave dwellings are also included in UNESCO’s world heritage list.
The homes are still in use 9,000 years after they were first established. In some places, the dwellings are on top of other caves, which makes the Sassi di Matera a very interesting place to walk. You can also see the city’s cathedral, which literally sits on top of Matera.
Viale Pietro Mandrillo, Viale della pace
portedellojonio.com
Viale Pietro Mandrillo, Viale della pace
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Via d’Aquino, Via Anfiteatro
Castello Aragonese
Piazza Castello
Spiaggia di San Vito
Viale del Tramonto
Palazzo Uffici, Taranto, Italy[/caption]
Overview of Taranto
Taranto is one of the largest cities in both the Apulia region and in Southern Italy. It is a city that lies along the coast of the Gulf of Taranto, and in fact the city calls itself the Capital of the Seas. The reason is that the Great Sea/Mar Grande lies west of the center and the Little Sea/Mar Piccolo lagoon lies to the east.
The old center is located on an island, and it was Greeks who built the historic Taranto in their time. You can still see remains from the Greek era; not least with the preserved columns from the old Poseidon temple. The temple ruins are located in today’s center on the border between the old town and the new and larger district, Borgo Nouvo.
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The Palazzo degli Uffici is one of Borgo Nuovo’s largest and most impressive buildings. The large building is located almost like a small castle on Piazza Archita at the end of a visual axis from Piazza Castello by the old town.
Construction began at the end of the 18th century, when Ferdinand IV issued a royal decree on the construction of an orphanage for, among other things, military orphans. The foundation stone was laid in 1791, but construction stopped in 1799.
The municipality later bought the building and the land, and in 1872 it was decided to complete the mansion to house public offices. The inauguration took place in 1896. For a number of years, one of Taranto’s best-known educational institutions was located here, and several well-known people such as Aldo Moro studied here.
Officially named Ponte San Francesco di Paola, this bridge was opened in 1887 and crosses the canal between the Borgo Antico district and the newer Borgo Nuovo. The channel is for seagoing ships and connects the Great Sea/Mar Grande and the Little Sea/Mar Piccolo, which is a lagoon to the east. The bridge is 90 meters/295 feet long.
The canal was dug in 1481 to strengthen the defense of Taranto with Castello Aragonese as the central part. The current bridge was opened in 1958 and is a swing bridge where the two halves of the bridge swing to lie parallel to the canal when the bridge is open. The opening is a special sight and the bridge is one of Taranto’s landmarks.
However, Ponte Girevole opens very rarely, as former shipyards in Mar Piccolo have moved and because the Italian Navy has moved everything but submarines from Mar Piccolo to Mar Grande.
Piazza Archita is one of the central squares of Taranto and forms a sort of center in the Borgo Nuovo district. There is a small park in the square with a nice pavilion, and around Piazza Archita you can see several interesting buildings.
The most characteristic is the Palazzo degli Uffici, which is one of Borgo Nuovo’s largest and most impressive buildings. The large building is almost like a small castle on Piazza Archita, and it forms the end of a visual axis from Piazza Castello by the old town.
From Taranto’s Greek times as the city of Taras, several preserved remains can be seen. The most famous and impressive are the two large columns from the city’s temple dedicated to the god Poseidon. The columns can be seen in central Taranto, where they stand beautifully in their typical Doric order design.
The temple is from the 5th century BC. and is thereby the oldest in the so-called Magna Graecia, which is the Latin name for the historical Greek colonies in what is now southern Italy.
The temple fell into disrepair in the Middle Ages, and it was used as building material for other constructions in the city. For that reason, it has not been possible to establish a precise plan of the appearance of the ancient temple.
Palazzo di Città is Taranto’s town hall. The beautiful building was built in its original style in the years 1864-1869, but was later extended.
Formerly the military governor of Taranto had his seat here, and he was assisted in governing the city by a council of citizens. Today, the town hall is home to Taranto’s city council and part of the city council’s administration.
This is one of Taranto’s great churches and is believed to date from the 16th century. It is located in the district of Borgo Nuovo and therefore not in the historic city centre.
The Chiesa del Carmine has been rebuilt and extended several times since the 16th century, and over time it acquired the neoclassical expression. The facade was, for example, created by a reconstruction in 1937. Inside, the church has the shape of a Latin cross. You can see a beautiful church room with a beautiful altar and side chapels.
This is one of Taranto’s great and old churches. It was built from 1302 and stands in the city’s old town in Romanesque-Gothic architecture. On this site there had previously been a Greek temple and a monastery church from the 11th century, which had been abandoned in 1228.
The early construction period characterizes the interior, which is significantly more simply decorated than, for example, the city’s cathedral. However, you can see newer side chapels from the Baroque period. With the associated monastery, San Domenico forms one of Taranto’s oldest and best-preserved complexes in the historic center.
Piazza Castello is one of Taranto’s central squares, and most tourists naturally pass by the square on a stroll through the city, as it is the south-eastern entrance to the old town.
There are several fine sights such as Castello Aragonese and the ruins of the Greek Temple of Poseidon around Piazza Castello, which naturally got its name from the great Aragonese castle.
Lungomare di Taranto is Taranto’s elegant promenade along the sea and at the same time also one of the city’s wonderful recreational spots. The promenade is officially called Lungomare Vittorio Emanuele II, and it is located in the district of Borgo Nuovo. You walk under tall palm trees and trees and can enjoy the view of the sea and impressive buildings from e.g. the fascist era, where the Palazzo del Governo stands as one of the city’s landmarks.
From the rotunda in front of the Palazzo del Governo you can enjoy beautiful sunsets and, in clear weather, see the mountains of the Calabria region. There are also plans for a modern promenade along the old town, Borgo Antico, so that the experience along the water will be expanded.
The Chiesa di San Pasquale is a beautiful Rococo church, built 1749-1794. It was built as a monastery church, and the associated monastery was bought by Taranto and set up as a national museum. Klosterhaven was sold to the Swedish Navy, which established a naval base on the site.
The church continues to operate as a Catholic church and is named after Paschalis Baylon, who was a Spanish Franciscan monk. The interior of the church is worth seeing with style features from rococo and classicism with a main altar from the 17th century, which originally stood in the city’s Santa Chiara monastery.
Ponte di Porta Napoli is one of the two bridges that connect Taranto’s old town with the rest of the city. The bridge is the north-west access to the centre, and it was built when the old bridge from the 9th century had been destroyed by a flood in 1883.
In 1404, the old bridge was fortified with the tower Torre di Raimondello in the present Piazza Fontana, which lies south of the bridge. The tower was demolished at the end of the 19th century, but you can easily imagine the entrance to the old town on Taranto’s central island.
Palazzo delle Poste is Taranto’s fine post office building, built in 1937 in period architecture from Italy’s Fascist era under Benito Mussolini. It was the architect Cesare Bazzini who designed the monumental building.
Palazzo delle Poste is beautifully situated along Taranto’s promenade overlooking the sea. In the decoration of the post office, you can see, among other things, statues of artists and scientists on top of the building’s outer columns.
The Monumento ai Caduti is the largest monument in the Borgo Nuovo district, and it was inaugurated in 1930 in memory of those who fell in the First World War. King Vittorio Emanuele III attended the inauguration of the work of the Taranto artist Francesco Como.
However, the monument was only completed after several decades in 1953. This happened with the statue group Aquilifero, where you can see, among other things, a Roman trireme.
Monumento al Marinaio is a well-known monument in Taranto, home to the largest Italian naval port. The monument is also dedicated to the sailors in the country’s navy. It was Vittorio Di Cobertaldo who created the bronze sculpture in 1974.
The Sailor’s Monument stands on the canal between Mar Grande and Mar Piccolo, and it shows two sailors greeting passing ships. They do this by raising the typical navy cap with their right hand.
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