Traditional chronology assigns the date of the foundation of Taranto to 706 BC. The sources handed down by the historical Eusebius of Caesarea speak of the transfer of some Spartan colonists to this area for expansion or commercial reasons. These, destroying the indigenous settlement and founding their own, brought the civilization and traditions of Greece.
The social structure of the colony developed over time a real aristocratic culture, whose wealth probably came from the exploitation of the resources of the fertile surrounding area, which was populated and defended by a series of "phrouria", small fortified centers in a strategic position.
Legend has it that in the eighth century BC, the Spartan hero Falanto became the leader of the Partheni, which was, a group of marginalized citizens as illegitimate children of the aristocracy in power in the city of Sparta, born during the Messenian war. Consulting the Oracle of Delphi before venturing into the sea in search of new lands, he learned that he would come to the land of the Japigi, and that he would have founded a city when he saw the rain fall from a clear and cloudless sky (in Greek ethra). Falanto set off on his journey until he reached the mouth of the Tara river. Falling asleep on his wife's lap, she began to cry very hard, thinking over the dark response of the Oracle and the difficulties she endured, wetting her husband's face with her tears. The oracle had come true, a rain had fallen on Falanto from a clear sky: the tears of his wife Ethra. Once the puzzle was solved, the hero set about founding his city there, at the japigian settlement of Saturo.
The Spartan city, an ancient colony of Magna Grecia, for its geographical position between Mar Grande and Mar Piccolo, is known as "city of the two seas".
Presenting a morphology of the mainly flat territory, the city developed along three natural peninsulas and an artificial island, the latter being the historical nucleus of the town, formed during the construction of the moat of the Aragonese Castle.
While most of the Gulf of Taranto is not suitable for harboring, Taranto has a very beautiful and wide port of the perimeter of 100 stadiums, closed by a large bridge. In addition to the stone bridge built after the flood of 1883, the revolving bridge inaugurated in 1887 continues to have the charm of the great mechanical engineering works and leads into the maze of alleys around the central via Cava, where various artisan shops flourish.
Among the monuments of historical and cultural interest we have to mention the ancient places of worship, including the remains of the Doric Temple, the archaeological remains of the Greco-Roman necropolis and chamber tombs, the Crypt of the Redeemer, the palaces belonging to noble families and illustrious personalities of the city, including Palazzo Pantaleo and Palazzo d'Ayala Valva. The city also offers a rich architectural variety testifying to the strong religiosity and devotion: ranging from the Romanesque to the Baroque facade of San Cataldo Cathedral, from the Gothic of San Domenico Maggiore church to the decidedly more elegant forms of the churches with Renaissance and neoclassical lines . There are also numerous crypts, monasteries, shrines and votive shrines. Still in the area we find the Aragonese castle and the hypogeum "De Beaumont Bonelli Bellacicco", a structure that narrates the history of Taranto since the geological era dating back to about 65 million years ago, with Magna Graecia, Byzantine, Middle Age and 18th century.
On the Borgo Antico esplanade, a 140 m² ceramic panel depicts the legend of Greek colonization and the subsequent foundation of Taranto. The work created by the artist Silvana Galeone on a project by the Filonide Cultural Center, is inspired by the myth of the Spartan hero Falanto and the response of the Oracle of Delphi that he asked.
In Taranto we also find the Ethnographic Museum "Alfredo Majorano" which is located in the Galeota palace and the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto (Marta), an important archaeological museum where you can admire the famous "Ori di Taranto" (Golden Jewels of Taranto), refined productions of the local goldsmith art between the 4th and 2nd century BC, in addition to the immense collection of archaeological finds from all over the Ionian province.
In the city of the two seas, Taranto’s mussel is the undisputed queen of the table, both cooked and raw. Mussel farming in Taranto dates back to the Middle Ages but its presence is assumed even in Greek and Roman times. The passage of time has not affected the fame, the skill of the breeders and its flavor. The latter is obtained also thanks to the natural mixing of the freshwater of the springs called "citri" with the salt water of Mar Piccolo, where they are bred. The result is mussels with a full intense aroma and taste that Tarantine housewives decline in unparalleled recipes.
The Acropolis of Poseidon (or Doric Temple) of Taranto, is the oldest temple in Magna Grecia and is the only Greek place of worship that can still be visited in the Borgo Antico (historic center of Taranto). The archaeologist Luigi Viola studied the remains and attributed the temple to the cult of Poseidon, but it is more likely to be related to the female deities of Artemis, Persephone or Hera. The ruins of the temple, located in Piazza Castello, were incorporated into the Church of SS. Trinità, in the courtyard of the Oratorio dei Trinitari, in the Casa Mastronuzzi and in the Convent of the Celestini.
Ten sections of columns were visible in the neoclassical period, but they were removed and dispersed during the convent's rebuilding in 1729. Other finds were lost with the subsequent demolition of the convent in 1926 and the nearby church in 1973.
Among the most beautiful churches in Puglia, the Cathedral Basilica named after San Cataldo is the flagship of old Taranto in Piazza Duomo and it is the oldest Cathedral in Puglia. The 11th century the Tarentini built it in the heart of the island conquered by the Normans.
This Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption since ancient times, as pointed out by the most remote Pastoral Visits of the Tarentine Archbishops, is still a book to be read.
The eighteenth-century facade is a Baroque triumph, between niches of saints, angels and medallions, a prelude to the sumptuous interior of 84 meters in length, where the three naves and numerous chapels open. The floor still retains traces of the ancient mosaic decoration, while the walls are richly decorated. The Cappellone di San Cataldo, with its frescoed dome, is preserved with the richness of marble and stucco, while the Byzantine suggestion has retained the cruciform crypt intact, punctuated by low columns and decorated with thirteenth-century frescoes.
Located at the north end of the old city, the church of San Domenico Maggiore (formerly the church of San Pietro Imperiale) rests its foundations on the remains of a Greek temple dating back to the 6th century BC and it is part of the former convent complex of the same name. An inscription in Latin on the coat of arms of the entrance portal reports that the current building was built in 1302 and dedicated to San Domenico in Soriano by Giovanni Taurisano, who came from Provence following Charles II of Anjou and appointed by him as feudal lord of Taurisano, province of Lecce. The main entrance can be reached by a staircase built at the center of the facade towards the end of the 18th century, with the creation the San Domenico slope that connects Via Duomo with the lower part of the island.
The architecture, the historical value and the extraordinary position on the sea make the Castle one of the main attractions of Taranto. The main fortification of the city of Taranto, the Aragonese Castle, also called Castel Sant'Angelo, marks the boundary between the old city and the new one in the Ionian capital. The manor, designed by the Sienese architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini commissioned by the king Ferdinando d'Aragona around the end of the 15th century, lies on the sea to protect the navigable canal. Wanted by the King of Naples as a defense castle, the fortress was built on the foundations of a Norman structure, having in its central core a fortress built by the Byzantines to protect from the Saracens. Of particular interest are the wide and low towers which emphasize the defense function. The Castle, already used as a prison under the Habsburgs, is now the headquarters of the Navy which opens the structure to guided tours and cultural events.
The Taranto hypogeum is an amazing architectural structure where elements and artifacts from the different stages of occupation of the site from prehistory to the modern age are found. It is the hidden treasure of Palazzo De Beaumont, a splendid eighteenth-century residence in the heart of the "Borgo Antico" of Taranto, overlooking the Mar Grande, the fantastic Hypogeum De Beaumont Bonelli Bellacicco, an extraordinary architectural environment where the remote past of the city is still visible.
The different spaces extend up to 12 meters under the road surface, witnessing every different anthropic phase of occupation of the site, visible thanks to the various architectural structures referable to different geological and historical phases, dating back to a time span ranging from prehistory to modern age.
Of particular note is the water supply system present at the fourth level of altitude, consisting of cisterns and pipes, dug into the limestone bank, and used for the collection of fresh water from a karst river. There are also late medieval walls and architectural elements of the Byzantine age, probably reused. On the second floor of the building, a careful restoration has brought to light the ancient House of the Marquise De Beaumont, with its rich eighteenth-century decorations.
The museum is divided into four rooms from five to eight meters high, has an extension of about 800 square meters, and in 2007 received the recognition of "cultural heritage of national importance" by the Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities. Until 2014 it has totaled 40 thousand visitors overall.
In addition to the historical structures, it is possible to admire artistic exhibitions and historical reproductions regarding the history of Taranto.
In the ancient capital of Magna Grecia there is one of the major Italian museums dedicated to archeology, the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto (Marta), which houses priceless treasures such as the splendid Ori di Taranto enclosing one of the most important archaeological collections in Italy with headquarters in the former Convent of San Pasquale in Babylon, near the Gardens of Piazza Garibaldi.
The rooms on the mezzanine floors are today the kingdom of archeology, with over two hundred thousand finds and artifacts ranging from prehistory to the Middle Ages: the visit follows a chronological order starting from the fifth millennium BC. The first contacts of the indigenous japigi with the Aegean world preceded the Spartan colonization of the Gulf of Taranto, while objects of daily life, related to the cult and funeral rituals of the Greek city, are admired.
Even the changes that occurred with the arrival of the Romans unfolded between sculptures and figured pottery, tools and goldsmiths of all kinds. In this regard, not to be missed is the incredible treasure of the Ori of Taranto, a real anthology of the Hellenistic goldsmith's art with numerous artifacts belonging to funeral items.
The public collection of the archaeological finds of Taranto was started at the end of the 19th century with the deposit of antiquities. The museum, established in 1887, is now set up in the rooms of the former Convent of San Pasquale in Babylon, built shortly after 1750. The collections are continuously growing thanks to the excavations that periodically affect the territory.
The eighteenth-century Convent of San Pasquale in Babylon was enlarged and rearranged in various phases starting from 1903, with the reconstruction of the facades on a project by Guglielmo Calderini. The northern wing was designed by Carlo Ceschi and built from 1935 to 1941. Subjected to a radical restoration in January 2000, the complex was reopened to the public on December 20, 2007. The rooms dedicated to the Greek city include a large exhibition of finds , from funeral items to goldsmiths. In the rooms dedicated to Roman Taranto, the splendor of the city is testified by the statuary and the mosaic floors of the imperial age. Taranto between the late antiquity and the Byzantine era is instead documented through finds such as the "domus" of the Basile house and the goldsmiths.
Taranto's famous Ori include seal rings, bracelets, tiaras in gold and semi-precious stones, nacelle and lion's head earrings, a nutcracker and other precious treasures. To see the floor mosaics of the villas, the marble and bronze sculptures, ceramics and some examples of funerary architecture.
In the museum's Pinacoteca you can also admire important paintings from the Neapolitan school.
A little more than a km from the La Vela Marsh, along the Circummarpiccolo Road, there is the short Cervaro river. The river, in the past, is mentioned together with the Galeso and the Rasca for their fish: in its waters they fished the "gobbioni crivajuoli". A temple dedicated to Diana stood nearby.
The river has its source a few tens of meters inland, in the form of a rather large source eye, surrounded by plants of Typha latifolia (a perennial herbaceous plant, also called broadleaf cattail or common bulrush, common in the swampy zones, up to 3 m tall, has linear leaves and spadix inflorescence). A few tens of meters from the source of Cervaro, stands the complex of the convent Battendieri, built in 1597 . Between 1533 and 1536, the Capuchins had built a convent "in loco veteri Cappuccinorum" in the area of the Galeso; twenty years later they abandoned it, because of the swamping of the river and the inhospitability of the place. The convent on Cervaro housed a few friars who in the fulling plant (workshop used for the fulling of wool where a machine moved by a hydraulic wheel with hammers beat the cloth) worked to the fulling of wool (operation by which they soften the wool cloths , subjecting them to pressure). The work at the fulling plant was very hard; the wool was of poor quality, the softness of the old wool was only a memory and, even after the fulling, the fabric was shaggy. After being degreased, washed and hardened, the fabrics were distributed to the other convents of the capuchins. The land was donated by the noble Francesco Marrese, with clause of withdrawal in case of abandonment of the friars. They built: a small church, a hut, with barrel vault, very simple, small rooms with sacristy, refectory, kitchen, workshops for processing wool, eight cells on the upper floor and other small amenities; The large cistern was probably built after the abandonment of the Capuchins two and a half centuries after the construction of the convent which was confiscated in 1867 and became a privately owned farm. The entire complex was enclosed in a dry boundary wall interrupted by the facade of the church and by a lowered arch portal. Detached from the convent, was the gualchiera, contiguous to a well tower circular on a pool of spring water, with windows and a staircase for access to the upper part.
Located in the second corner of the Mar Piccolo in Taranto, for many years a WWF oasis and a recently oriented regional reserve, the oasis La Vela is a treasure for the natural heritage of the city of Taranto. The flora is very rich mainly of halophilic type (formed by species adapted to live in the brackish environments) and even more rich and interesting the fauna characterized both by sedentary species (grey herons, egrets, cormorants, etc.) and migratory (flamingos, knights of Italy, volpoche, avocets, spatulas and many others).
