Il Comune >> La Città >> Taranto attraverso le immagini

Old Taranto, as the ancient part of the city is known, must be seen from the sea at night time. The local government approved a special nocturnal illumination of the ancient city that highlights the "palazzata", a string of ancient buildings situated on the "ringhiera", the coastal suburb of Taranto once inhabited by nobility and clergy.

The architectural styles of many different eras and the city's rich history are reflected in the splendor of romanesque facade of the San Domenico Church, the Archbishop's Residence, and the Palazzo D'Ayala Valva. Old Taranto is a small island that is connected to the "New City" by way of two bridges. Upon entering the heart of the ancient city, one discovers the magical pull of narrow alleys, charming tiny, piazzas, and the elegance of the hoses and streets

Taranto, Syracuse and Corinth are the only places in the world where there are remains of a Greek temple built in the first half of the VI c. BC. We know about the existence of a DORIC TEMPLE in piazza Castello (Castle Square) since the XVIII century, when the two columns, now totally visible, were part of the oratory of the Blessed Trinity which was demolished more than the 30 years ago to bring them to light. Originally the temple probably was 50 meters long and it had 17 columns on one side and 6 to 8 on the other. Today only to columns and the base of a third one are left.

The temple was built at the time of final achievement of power for Taranto, capital of Ancient Greece. But the construction of the temple overlaps the urbanistic settlement of Taranto, with the Acropolis placed in the old town and the Polis in the "Borgo" quarter. The Doric temple is known as Poseidon temple, but most probably it was consecrated to a feminine divinity. So, it is believed to be closer to the truth the last century tradition upon which it was called Diana temple. In front of the temple there was the convent of "Celestini", which was demolished in the 1920's to build the Post Office. But the abundance of archaeological remains found over there has stopped any building project since them.

We are in the so called "lower" part of the old town. It is believed this section of the town was created by Niceforo Foca within his program of reconstruction of Taranto in the X Th century. He added to the ancient Acropolis (which corresponds more or less to the "upper" part of the historical center) a strip of land taken away from the "Small Sea" (Mar Piccolo). LARGO PETINO (Petino Square) after the demolition of recent buildings is one of the places where the difference between "lower" and "upper" part of the ancient Taranto becomes evident. There can be jumps as high as 20 meters like the one between "Vico Cosa" and "Arco Cosa". The average difference is around 9 to 12 meters.

The image of Largo Petino caught in this picture shows some rooms dug out in the tufaceous rock. It is an example of architecture "in grotto" similar to those you can find in several Ionian ravines. In Taranto there was an extensive quarrying activity. It is not by coincidence, in fact, that this restored section has always been called "via Cava", that is to say : Quarry Street. In the old town Via Cava is the border between the "upper" quarters ("Pittaggio del Baglio" and "Pittaggio di San Pietro") and the "lower" quarters ("Pittaggio del Ponte" and "Pittaggio di Torrepenna").