Adventure

The Journey Home 2023 – Taranto

You may be asking yourself where is Taranto? It’s a port city and home to a large Italian navy base located in the instep of the boot. So why go there may be your next question. The reason for me was that my great uncle Enrico Piromallo, who was an admiral in the Italian navy moved there and hence his family is there. My father’s first cousin Roberto and his family now reside there.

There are several historical sites in Taranto one being MAARTA the archeological museum in the heart of the city. The museum has artifacts dating back to 6000 BC with many interesting exhibits.

Another interesting site to see is the Castello Aragonese or Castel San Angelo located on the channel between the old and new city. It is run by the Italian Navy and there are hourly tours and no entrance fee. However, the tours are in Italian so I only picked up like every fifth word! The Castle was built by Ferdinand I of Naples in 1492. Previously there was a Norman castle and a Byzantine fortress.

Taranto was founded by the Spartans in the 8th Century BC. There is a Spartan museum which was supposed to be open, but we could not find the entrance.

We stayed on the east end of the old city and it was about a one mile walk to the train station, even with luggage it was not a bad walk but walk along the sea not through the town. We found several good restaurants close by.

Fabula was a really cool place where they serve your pasta in a mozzarella bowl. We also saw one in Bari.

Biaggio may not look like much from the outside, but they have awesome seafood dishes, and I don’t like fish!

We ate breakfast and some main meals at Barone just across the bridge from us. Very good pizza and sides. And of course Aperol Spritz.

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All and all Taranto is a great walking town with a long pedestrian Main Street with a lot of stores. There is also a very long Lungomare with plenty of benches and a nice cafe.