Taranto ( , ; Ancient Greek: Tarās; Modern Greek: Tarantas; Taranto's
dialect "Tarde") is a coastal city in Puglia
, Southern Italy. It is the capital of
the
Province of Taranto and is
an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval
base.
It is the third-largest continental city of southern Italy:
according to the 2001 census, it has a population of 201,349.
Taranto is an important commercial and military port. It has
well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical
works, some shipyards for building warships, and food-processing
factories.
Overview

Taranto naval base for the Italian
Regia Marina's First Squadron (1906).
Taranto's pre-history dates back to the 8th century BC when it was
founded as a Greek colony. The ancient city was situated on a
peninsula, protected by a helm; the modern
city has been built over the ancient Greek
necropolis.
The islets of
S. Pietro and
S.
Paolo (St. Peter and St. Paul) protect the bay, called
Mar Grande (
Big Sea), where the commercial port
is located. Another bay, called
Mar Piccolo (
Little
Sea), is formed by the old city, and there
fishing is flourishing;
Mar Piccolo is a
military port with a strategic importance.
At the end of the 19th century, a channel was excavated to allow
the military ships to enter
Mar Piccolo harbour, and the
ancient Greek city become an island. In addition, the islets and
the coast are strongly fortified.Because of the presence of these
two bays, Taranto is also called “the city of the two seas”.
The
Greek colonists from Sparta
called the
city Taras ( ), after the mythical hero Taras, while the Romans
, who
connected the city to Rome with an extension of the Appian way, called it
Tarentum.
The natural harbor at Taranto made it a logical home port for the
Italian naval fleet before and during the
First World War.
During World War II,
Taranto became famous as a consequence of the November 1940 British
air attack on the Regia Marina naval
base stationed here, which is today called the Battle of
Taranto
.
Taranto is also the origin of the common name of the
Tarantula spider family,
Theraphosidae, even though strictly speaking
there are no members of Therphosidae in the area. In ancient times,
residents of the town of Taranto, upon being bitten by the large
local
Wolf Spider,
Lycosa tarentula, would promptly do a
long vigorous dance like a
Jig. This was done in
order to sweat the venom out of their pores, even though the
spider's venom was not fatal to humans. The frenetic dance became
known as the
Tarantella.
History
Taranto
was founded in 706 BC by Dorian Greek
immigrants as the only Spartan
colony, and
its origin is peculiar: the founders were Partheniae, sons of unmarried Spartan women and
Perioeci (free men, but not
citizens of Sparta); these unions were permitted by the Spartans to
increase the number of soldiers (only the citizens of Sparta could
become soldiers) during the bloody Messenian
wars, but later
they were nullified, and the sons were forced to leave.
Phalanthus, the parthenian leader, went to
Delphi
to consult the oracle: the
puzzling answer designated the harbour of Taranto as the new home
of the exiles. The Partheniae arrived in Apulia, and founded
the city, naming it
Taras after the son of the Greek sea
god,
Poseidon, and of a local nymph,
Satyrion. According to other sources,
Heracles founded the city. Another tradition
indicates Taras as the founder of the city; the symbol of the Greek
city (as well as of the modern city) depicts the legend of Taras
being saved from a shipwreck by riding a dolphin that was sent to
him by Poseidon. Taranto increased its power, becoming a commercial
power and a sovereign city of
Magna
Graecia, ruling over the
Greek
colonies in southern Italy.Its independece and power came to an
end as the Romans expanded throughout Italy. Taranto won the first
of two wars against Rome for the control of Southern Italy: it was
helped by Pyrrhus, king of Greek Epirus, who surprised Rome with
the use of elephants in battle, a thing never seen before by the
Romans.
The second war was conversely won by Rome,
that afterwards cut off Taranto from the centre of Mediterrean
trade, by connecting the Via Appia
directly to the port of Brundisium (Brindisi
).
Taranto as a center of ancient art
Like many Greek city states, Taras issued its own currency in the
5th and 4th centuries B.C. The denomination was a Nomos, a die-cast
silver coin whose weight, size and purity were controlled by the
state. The highly artistic coins presented the symbol of the city,
Taras being saved by a dolphin, with the reverse side showing the
likeness of a hippocamp, a horse-fish amalgam which is depicted in
mythology as the beast that drew Poseidon's chariot.
Taras was also the center of a thriving decorated
Greek pottery industry during the 4th century
BC. Most of the
South Italian Greek
vessels known as
Basilican ware were made
in different workshops in the city.
Unfortunately, none of the names of the artists have survived, so
modern scholars have been obliged to give the recognizable artistic
hands and workshops nicknames based on the subject matter of their
works, museums which possess the works, or individuals who have
distinguished the works from others. Some of the most famous of the
Apulian vase painters at Taras are now called: the
Iliupersis Painter, the
Lycurgus Painter, the
Gioia del Colle Painter, the
Darius Painter, the
Underworld Painter, and the
White Sakkos Painter, among
others.
The wares produced by these workshops were usually large elaborate
vessels intended for mortuary use. The forms produced included
volute kraters,
loutrophoroi,
paterai,
oinochoai,
lekythoi,
fish plates,
etc. The decoration of these vessels was
red
figure (with figures reserved in red clay fabric, while the
background was covered in a black gloss), with overpainting
(
sovradipinto) in white, pink, yellow,
and maroon slips.
Often the style of the drawings are very florid, and frilly, as was
already the fashion in Fourth-Century Athens. Distinctive South
Italian features also begin to appear. Many figures are shown
seated on rocks. Floral motifs become very ornate, including
spiraling vines and leaves, roses, lilies, poppies, sprays of
laurel, acanthus leaves, etc. Often the subject matter consists of
naiskos scenes (scenes showing the statue of a deceased person in a
naos, a miniature temple or shrine). Most often the naiskos scene
occupies one side of the vase, while a mythological scene occupies
the other. Images depicting many of the Greek myths are only known
from South Italian vases, since Athenian ones seem to have had more
limited repertoires of depiction.
Environment

Satellite view of Taranto
(NASA).
As a consequence of the poisons discharged into the air by the
factories on its territory, Taranto is the most polluted city in
Italy and western Europe. As a matter of fact, only 7% of Taranto's
pollution is inhabitants-related: 93% is factories-related.
Every year Taranto's inhabitants inhale 2.7
carbon monoxide tons and 57.7
carbon dioxide tons.
The latest data
provided by the INES, the Italian national institute of emissions
and their sources (Inventario nazionale delle emissioni e loro
sorgenti), confirm that Taranto stands comparison with the
Chinese Linfen
and the
Romanian Copşa
Mică
, the most polluted cities in the world due to
factories' emissions.
In particular, Taranto has
dioxin. 92% of the Italian
dioxin is produced
there and, in other terms, 8.8% of the European one. In ten years,
leukaemias,
myelomas and
lymphomas
increased by 30–40%.
Furthermore, the dioxin accumulates over the
years: so far at least 9 kilos of dioxin have been discharged into
Taranto's air by its factories, i.e. three times the quantity
discharged in the Seveso
disaster
(the one in
1976 where the Italian city Seveso was contaminated by
dioxin).
Municipality bankrupt
The Municipality of Taranto was declared bankrupt because - as
ascertained by
Francesco Boccia,
chief of the liquidation committee - as of 31 December 2005, it had
accrued liabilities in an amount equal to 637 million euros. This
is one of the biggest financial crises which has ever hit a
municipality.
The fact that the municipality went bankrupt was officially
declared on 18 October 2006 by the receiver
Tommaso Blonda, appointed further to the
resignation of the mayor,
Rossana Di
Bello, following her one-year-and-four-months imprisonment
conviction for abuse of office and documental forgery in relation
to investigations made on the contract for the management of the
city incinerator given to the company
Termomeccanica.
Main sights
Taranto has a number of sites of historic value. Sitting along the
Little Sea, The
Aragonese
Castle was built in the 15th century with the intention to
protect the town from the Turks' frequent raids. The castle
replaced a pre-existing fort which was deemed unfit for 15th
century warfare.
The old town, including Piazza Fontana, Saint Domenico's church,
Madonna della Salute Sanctuary, and a number of old
palazzi, is standing exactly as it did a thousand years
ago, when the Bizantynes rebuilt what the
Saracens had raised to the ground in 927 AC. The
picturesque alleyways, arches and stairwells, along with the old
craftsmen workshops, contribute to its unique atmosphere.
Taranto features several Greek temple ruins - some stretching as
far back as the 6th century BC - such as the remains of a Doric
Temple still visible on Piazza Castello.
A number of 18th-century
palazzi adorn the town centre.
For years, they served as the main residence of local aristocratic
families and these include Palazzo Carducci-Artenisio (1650),
Palazzo Galeota (1728) and Palazzo Latagliata.
The Ponte Girevole (
swing bridge),
built in 1887, runs across the navigable ship canal that joins
Mar Piccolo (
Little Sea) with
Mar Grande
(
Big Sea) and stretches along 89.9 meters or
294.95 ft. During its opening, the two ends of the city are
literally left without connection.
A really important institution of Taranto is the "Galileo Ferraris"
high school,founded in 1848, located in via Mascherpa 10. This
school is famous for his high-developed level of instruction,
because oh its high quality level of teachers and students. Others
schools are: IIS Archita, IIS Quito Ennio, IIS Aristosseno, and
ITIS Pacinotti.
The
Promenade (
lungomare), named
after former Italian king
Vittorio
Emanuele III, overlooks the
Mar Grande, with the
imposing views of its natural harbour and commercial port.
Notable people
These historical figures have had a relationship with the city. Not
all of them were actually born in Taranto.
- Archytas of Tarentum, philosopher,
mathematician, astronomer, statesman, strategist and
commander-in-chief of the army of Taranto;
- Philolaus, mathematician and
philosopher.
- Aristoxenus, peripatetic
philosopher, and writer on music and rhythm;
- Leonidas of Tarentum,
poet;
- Lysis of Tarentum,
philosopher;
- Rhinthon (c. 323–285 BC),
dramatist;
- Livius Andronicus, poet;
- Titus Quinctius
Flamininus, propraetor of
Tarentum;
- Pacuvius, tragic poet, died in Tarentum
in 130 BC;
- Cataldus, archibishop of Taranto,
saint, and patronus;
- Bohemond of Taranto, key
military leader on the First Crusade
- Gil Cardinal Albornoz,
archibishop of Taranto in 1644;
- Giovanni Paisiello,
composer;
- Pierre Choderlos de
Laclos, Napoleonic army general and novelist, died in
Taranto;
- Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre
MacDonald (1765–1840), duke of Taranto and marshal
of France;
- Marcus Fulvius Nobilior,
rumoured to have been born here and not Rome as was first
assumed.
Citations
Miscellaneous
- Star of David: "A David's shield
has recently been noted on a Jewish tombstone at Tarentum, in
southern Italy, which may date as early as the third century of the
common era."
- Tarentum was included in the hit PC game Rome: Total War as the
governing settlement for Apulia as well as the capital of the Roman
Faction of Brutii
- Taranto fortress is the sign of this city.
External links