Taranto
Taranto is known as the city of two seas. It is positioned around two large bays: the Mar Grande where the commercial port is located, and the Mar Piccolo flanked by the historic centre. Under the Greeks, the city became one of the most important commercial centres of Magna Graecia.
Our guide will show you the most important monuments of the city located on the Ionian Sea. You will cross the famous Revolving Bridge overlooking the navigable canal, which still opens today to allow the passage of ships from the Mar Piccolo to the Mar Grande, and visit the Aragonese Castle also known as Castel Sant’Angelo. You will admire the remains of the Doric Temple, the Cathedral of San Cataldo (one of the oldest Romanesque churches in Apulia dedicated to the patron saint of Taranto, San Cataldo). Inside there is a wonderful mosaic floor, similar to the one in the cathedral in Otranto (Lecce), the Church of San Domenico Maggiore with its wonderful cloister.
The jewel in the town’s crown is the National Archaeological Museum called: Marta, opened on 20 December 2007 with rooms full of exceptional finds from the Magna-Greek civilisation where you can admire the famous ‘golds of Taranto’.
During the Easter period, the rites of Holy Week are very heartfelt in the city, in terms of collective participation and emotional involvement.
Routes in a nutshel
The Sailor Monument is the symbol of the city.
It was made in bronze by Vittorio di Cobertaldo in 1974. The sculpture depicts two sailors in the act of greeting the boats crossing the navigable canal.
Gourmet routes
Typical products Taranto and province: Taranto’s Mar Piccolo is the largest mussel production centre in the Mediterranean. These mussels are bred in special nets placed on chestnut stakes driven into the seabed.
Other typical products are: Laterza bread, the clementines of the Gulf of Taranto PGI, but above all this is the land of oil such as the extra virgin olive oil Terre Tarantine PDO, and of DOC wines such as the famous Primitivo di Manduria and that of Lizzano.
Traditional Taranto dishes: tubettini with mussels, linguine alla tarantina, mussels au gratin.