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Taranto (Italian: [ˈtaːranto] ⓘ; Tarantino: Tarde), historically also called Tarent in English, is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy on the Gulf of Taranto. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main base of the Italian navy. With a population of 185,112 as of 2026, Taranto is the second-largest city in Apulia.
Founded by Spartans in the 8th century BC during the period of Greek colonisation, Taranto was among the most important poleis in Magna Graecia, becoming a cultural, economic and military power that gave birth to philosophers, strategists, writers and athletes such as Archytas, Aristoxenus, Livius Andronicus, Heracleides, Iccus, Cleinias, Leonidas, Lysis and Sosibius. By 500 BC, the city was among the largest in the world, with an estimated population of up to 300,000. The seven-year rule of Archytas marked the apex of its development and recognition of its hegemony over other Greek colonies of southern Italy.
During the Norman period, it became the capital of the Principality of Taranto, which covered almost all of the heel of Apulia.
Taranto is now the third-largest continental city in southern Italy (south of Rome, roughly the southern half of the Italian peninsula), with well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, naval shipyards and food-processing factories. Taranto was the host city of the 2026 Mediterranean Games.
The islets of S. Pietro and S. Paolo (St. Peter and St. Paul), collectively known as the Cheradi Islands, protect the bay, called Mar Grande (Big Sea), where the commercial port is located. Taranto is known for the large population of dolphins and other cetaceans living near these islands. Another bay, called Mar Piccolo (Little Sea), is formed by the peninsula of the old city and is a popular location for fishing and mussel farming.
The Greek colonists from Sparta called the city Taras (Τάρᾱς, gen. Τάραντος Tárantos) after the mythical hero Taras, while the Romans, who connected the city to Rome with an extension of the Appian Way, called it Tarentum.
Taranto was founded in 706 BC by Dorian Greek immigrants hailing from Sparta. Its origin is peculiar: the founders were Partheniae ("sons of virgins"), sons of unmarried Spartan women and Perioeci (free men, but not citizens of Sparta); these out-of-wedlock unions were permitted extraordinarily by the Spartans to increase the prospective number of soldiers (only the citizens of Sparta could become soldiers) during the bloody Messenian Wars, but later they were retroactively nullified, and the sons were then obliged to leave Greece forever. Phalanthus, the Parthenian leader and founder (Oikistes), 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. Politically and militarily, Archytas appeared to have been the dominant figure in Tarentum in the first half of the 4th century, somewhat comparable to Pericles in Athens a half-century earlier. The Tarentines elected him strategos ("general") seven years in a row, a step that required them to violate their own rule against successive appointments. Archytas was allegedly undefeated as a general in Tarentine campaigns against their southern Italian neighbors.
In 303 BC, Sparta sent Cleonymus, the brother of king Areus I, commanding mercenary armies with official support in order to help Tarentum against Lucanians and the Roman Republic. Tarentum's power and independence came to an end as the Romans expanded throughout Italy. Taranto fought against Rome for the control of Southern Italy: it was helped by Pyrrhus, Molossian king of Greek Epirus, who surprised Rome with the use of war elephants in battle of Heraclea, a thing never seen before by the Romans. After the Pyrrhic victory at the battle of Asculum they lost the battle of Beneventum in 275 BC. Tarentum surrendered to Rome after the death of Pyrrhus in Peloponnese in 272 BC. This subsequently cut off Taranto from the centre of Mediterranean trade, by connecting the Via Appia directly to the port of Brundisium (Brindisi).
Like many Greek city states, Taras issued its own coins in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. 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 centre 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 is florid and frilly, as was already the fashion in 4th-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. 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.
The Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War between British naval forces, under Admiral Andrew Cunningham, and Italian naval forces, under Admiral Inigo Campioni. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, employing 21 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean Sea. The attack struck the battle fleet of the Regia Marina at anchor in the harbour of Taranto, using aerial torpedoes despite the shallowness of the water.
The Taranto Prize, defined as the "Biennial of the South", was a biennial cultural event that took place between 1947 and 1951. It was born on the initiative of thirty-year-old veterans who, returning from the Second World War, gathered in the «Cultural Club (Circolo della cultura)» and the newspaper 'Voce del Popolo'. The coordinator, Antonio Rizzo, was a physicist who graduated with Enrico Fermi. He intended to promote a new cultural impulse of a pacifist nature for the city. The event was structured into two sections: literature and painting. Several artists of international calibre, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Carlo Emilio Gadda, and Giorgio de Chirico, participated. The theme of the competition was the sea.
The Municipality of Taranto was declared bankrupt effective 31 December 2005, having accrued liabilities of €357 million. This was one of the biggest financial crises that has ever hit a municipality.
The bankruptcy declaration was made on 18 October 2006 by the receiver Tommaso Blonda. He was appointed following the resignation of the mayor, Rossana Di Bello, on account of her sixteen-month prison sentence for abuse of office and forgery of documents relating to investigations into the contract for the management of the city incinerator, awarded to Termomeccanica.
Taranto faces the Ionian Sea. It is 14.5 m (48 ft) above sea level. It was built on a plain running north/north-west–southeast, and surrounded by the Murgia plateau from the north-west to the east. Its territory extends for 209.64 km2 (80.94 sq mi) and is mostly underwater. It is characterised by three natural peninsulas and a man-made island, formed by digging a ditch during the construction of Aragon Castle. The city is known as the "city of two seas" because it is washed by the Big Sea in the bay between Punta Rondinella to the northwest and Capo San Dante to the south, and by the vast reservoir of the Little Sea.
The Big Sea (or "Mare Grande") is frequently known as the Big Sea bay as that is where ships harbour. It is separated from the Little Sea (or "Mare Piccolo") by a cape which closes the gulf, leading to the artificial island. This island formed the heart of the original city and it is connected to the mainland by the Ponte di Porta Napoli and the Ponte Girevole. The Big Sea is separated from the Ionian Sea by the Capo San Vito, the Isole Cheradi of St Peter and St Paul, and the three islands of San Nicolicchio, which are completely incorporated by the ILVA steelworks. The latter form a little archipelago which closes off the arc creating the natural Big Sea bay.
The Little Sea is considered to be a lagoon so it presents problems of water exchange. It is virtually divided into two by the Ponte Punta Penna Pizzone, which joins the Punta Penna to the Punta Pizzone. The first of these forms a rough triangle, whose corners are the opening to the east and the Porta Napoli channel linking it to the Big Sea in the west. The second half forms an ellipse whose major axis measures almost 5 kilometres (3 mi) from the south-west to the north-east. The Galeso river flows into the first half.
The two water bodies have slightly different winds and tides and their underwater springs have different salinities. These affect the currents on the surface and in the depths of the Big Sea and the two halves of the Little Sea. In the Big Sea and in the northern part of the Little Sea, there are some underwater springs called citri, which carry undrinkable freshwater together with salt water. This creates the ideal biological conditions for cultivating Mediterranean mussels, known locally as cozze.
The climate of the city, recorded by the weather station situated near the Grottaglie Military Airport, is a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, typical of the Mediterranean with frequent continental features.
The spring is usually mild and rainy, but it is not uncommon to have sudden cold spells from the north and east, which often cause snowfall. Average annual precipitation is fairly low (even for southern Italy), measuring just 425 mm (16.7 in) per year.
The summer is hot and humid, with temperatures averaging 29 °C (84 °F).
On 28 November 2012 a large F3 tornado hit the port of Taranto and damaged the Taranto Steel Mill; about 20 workers were injured and another man was reported missing.
It is classified as Geographical zone C and having a degree-day of 30.
As of 2026, the population is 185,112, of which 48.2% are males, and 51.8% are females. Minors make up 14.0% of the population, and seniors make up 27.2%.
The city is the centre of the Tarantino dialect (dialètte tarandíne) of the Neapolitan language. As a result of the city's history, it is influenced by Greek, Vulgar Latin, French and many others.
As of 2025, immigrants make up 4.1% of the population. The 5 largest foreign countries of birth are Romania, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Ukraine, and Sri Lanka.
Taranto has a number of sites of historic value. Situated at the angle of the canal, Big Sea and Piazza Castello, the Aragon Castle was built between 1486 and 1492 by orders of King Ferdinand II of Aragon to protect the city from the Turks' frequent raids. The castle, which was designed by Italian painter and architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini, replaced a pre-existing 9th-century Byzantine fortress, which was deemed unfit for 15th-century warfare. In 1707 it ceased to be used as a military fortress and was converted to a prison until under Napoleon Bonaparte it reverted to its original military function. To date it is the property of the Italian Navy and is open to the public. Twenty-first-century excavations revealed the castle's earlier Byzantine foundations which can be viewed.
There are several Greek temple ruins - some from the 6th century BC - such as the remains of a temple dedicated to Poseidon, with its two surviving Doric columns still visible on Piazza Castello in the Città Vecchia.
The Promenade (lungomare), named after former Italian king Victor Emmanuel III, overlooks the Mar Grande, the natural harbour and commercial port.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Taranto”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.