Taranto is not the romantic Puglia visitors have been clamoring for in recent years. But it is a city in bloom and one with the potential to become a creative capital of southern Italy–if given the right energies and investments. 

The City of the Two Seas–so called because it overlooks both the Ionian Sea (the Great Sea) and an inland body of water (the Little Sea), separated by a canal over which a swing bridge is built–has been plagued by a one-sided narrative that has only ever seen it as the home to Ilva, once Europe’s largest steel mill.