Question 1

Taranto on Your Own

Accepted Answer

The old town and the Borgo, the 19th-century district across the swing bridge, can be explored on foot from the port, starting with the castle and the cathedral and ending at the archaeological museum. If you would rather not walk the 2 km from the port gate to Piazza Castello, take a taxi. The old town: Narrow streets run the length of the island. The Cathedral of San Cataldo, the oldest cathedral in Apulia, holds the tomb of Cataldo, an Irish bishop who died in Taranto in the 6th or 7th century. Piazza Castello: Two Doric columns, the remains of a Greek temple of the 6th century BC, stand in front of the city hall and are seen from behind a fence. The Aragonese Castle, completed in 1492, faces the canal. Across the bridge: The swing bridge crosses the navigable canal to the Borgo. The national archaeological museum, MArTA, is at Via Cavour 10. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own, and when the swing bridge opens to let a ship through the canal, the city is cut in two until it closes, so leave a margin. Watch the clock: All-aboard is given in ship's time, which may not match the local clocks or your phone, especially on cruises that also call in Greece.

Question 2

Getting Around Taranto

Accepted Answer

Walking covers the old town and the Borgo, which meet at the swing bridge; at the other end of the island, the stone bridge, Ponte di Pietra, crosses to the industrial side of the city. Local buses are run by the city transport company, Kyma Mobilità (formerly AMAT), and Taranto Centrale station has direct trains to Bari, Rome, Bologna and Milan. Buy bus tickets before you board, from authorized sellers. In summer, Kyma Mobilità runs a boat excursion called the Tour dei Due Mari around the Mar Grande and the Mar Piccolo from Piazzale Democrate near the stone bridge. It is booked online, so check the season before you plan around it. The swing bridge, finished in the 1880s, opens to let naval ships pass between the two seas. By car, Martina Franca is about half an hour away, Alberobello about 40 minutes, and Matera and Lecce about an hour each.

Question 3

What to Eat in Taranto

Accepted Answer

Taranto's own ingredient is the mussel of the Mar Piccolo, farmed there for centuries in water freshened by 33 underwater springs. The old town has seafood restaurants, and the local beer is Raffo. The cozza tarantina, the Taranto mussel, has a black-violet shell and a sweeter, less briny taste than other Mediterranean mussels. It has been a Slow Food Presidium since 2022. The mussels grow on ropes hung from floating rafts or from posts in the seabed, and reach market size after 9 to 12 months. Orecchiette, small ear-shaped pasta of durum wheat, are typical of Apulia and Basilicata, and around Taranto they are also called chiancarelle. Pettole, soft balls of fried dough, are first made each year on the night of November 22, Saint Cecilia's day, when bands play through the streets to open the Christmas season.

Question 4

Tipping in Italy

Accepted Answer

Tips, la mancia, are not customary in Italy and are given only for special service. Most restaurants charge a cover, the coperto, and waiters do not expect a tip, though they will not refuse one. In Italian restaurants a large tip is never expected; a euro or two is enough if you want to leave something. Leaving the change is quite common with taxi drivers. Hotel porters may expect a little something. Italy uses the euro (€).

Question 5

MArTA, the Old City, and Greek Heritage

Accepted Answer

Taranto's Greek beginnings are still part of its identity: it is called the Spartan city, and its ancient coins show Taras, its legendary founder, riding a dolphin. The Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto, MArTA, holds the finds that tell the story. MArTA, founded in 1887, occupies the 18th-century former convent of San Pasquale Baylon at Via Cavour 10. Its first floor covers the Greek and Roman city, and its second floor the prehistory of all Apulia. The Gold Room displays the "golds of Taranto," Hellenistic and Roman jewelry from tombs of the region, worked with filigree and granulation. The sculptural group Orpheus and the Sirens, taken abroad in the 1970s and later held by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, has been on permanent display at MArTA since 2023. In October 2026, MArTA opened Tuesday to Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., with the last bookable entry at 6:45 p.m., opened shorter hours on Sundays and was closed on Mondays; adults paid €10, visitors aged 18 to 25 €2, and under-18s entered free. Check before you go. Holy Week is the high point of the city's year, with the procession of the Addolorata on Holy Thursday and the procession of the Mysteries on Good Friday, run by the city's two leading confraternities. On the old town seafront, a ceramic panel of 140 square meters tells the legend of Phalanthus, the Spartan founder.

Question 6

From Sparta to Magna Graecia to Industrial Italy

Accepted Answer

Spartan settlers led by Phalanthus founded Taras in 706 BC, and it grew into the largest city of Magna Graecia before Rome took it in 272 BC. Its later rulers ranged from Byzantines and Normans to the Spanish crown and the Bourbons. Before the Greeks: Iapygian settlers lived here from the 10th to the 8th century BC, before the Spartan colony displaced them. 706 BC: Spartans under Phalanthus founded Taras, which became a commercial and military power of the Greek world. 272 BC: After the war in which King Pyrrhus of Epirus was its ally, Taras surrendered to Rome. It opened its gates to Hannibal in 212 BC and was punished three years later. 1088 to 1465: Under the Normans and their successors, Taranto was the capital of the Principality of Taranto, a largely independent fief, first within the Kingdom of Sicily and then within Naples. 1486 to 1492: Ferdinand I of Naples had the military engineer Francesco di Giorgio Martini rebuild the castle with low, round towers able to withstand cannon. 1866: Taranto was made the main base of Italy's new navy. The 1880s: A tower of the castle was demolished to widen the navigable canal, and the swing bridge was built across it. 1940: On the night of November 11 to 12, British carrier aircraft attacked the Italian fleet in the harbor. The raid killed 85 people, 55 of them civilians. 1965: The Italsider steelworks, later Ilva, was inaugurated, and its effect on the city remains a subject of controversy. To learn more ashore: MArTA, the national archaeological museum at Via Cavour 10, follows the city from its foundation through Roman times to the early Middle Ages.

Question 7

Taranto with Children and Families

Accepted Answer

For children, Taranto's draws are the gold in the archaeological museum, the castle and the two seas. In summer, a boat excursion around the two seas adds a trip on the water. Younger children: MArTA welcomes families with strollers, and under-18s enter free. Museum rules: Food and drink, large bags and running are not allowed in the galleries, so plan snacks for before or after. School age: The Spartan legend panel on the old town seafront and the Greek columns in Piazza Castello help children picture the city's founding before a visit to the museum. Teenagers: The Gold Room at MArTA shows how Greek and Roman goldsmiths worked, with filigree and granulation, and the Orpheus and the Sirens group has a story of theft and return. On the water: In summer, the Tour dei Due Mari boat excursion sails from Piazzale Democrate; check the season and book ahead.

Taranto

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