Taranto - Tempio di Poseidone

Taranto located on a peninsula was founded by Greek settlers and during the period of Greek colonization in Southern Italy, the city was among the most important in "Magna Graecia". During the Second Punic War, Taranto supported Hannibal in Italy and opened it´s doors to his troops in 212 BC, but when Romans recaptured Taranto three years later, they massacred the citizens and looted the town. It became a Roman colony later.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Taranto got fortified. In 547 Taranto asked a Byzantine general for support. He greatly reduced the size of the city in order to be able to defend it. So he separated the part of the isthmus from the actual city area, making an island out of the peninsula and fortified it strongly. Nevertheless, three years later, the city was conquered by the Ostrogoth troops of Totila. Later Taranto was ruled by Langobards. The city was conquered by the Saracens in 839 and an emirate existed up to 880 when it was taken by a Byzantine army, but in 927 the Saracens were back looted and destroyed the city. It was rebuilt under Byzantine power from 967 on. Normans conquered Taranto in the second half of the 11th century and founded the "Principality of Taranto" 1086, later bequeathed by Frederic II to his son Manfred.

The Old Town ("Città Vecchia") still retains the same street layout of 967, when the Byzantines rebuilt after Saracen troops had razed to the ground in 927. Still in 1746 the entire population of Taranto resided in Old Town. This resulted in the necessity of building additional stories on the narrow houses. By 2013 the population of the Old Town was just 1000[ at a time when the wider city had more than 200000 inhabitants. Today the structural structure of the old town in this area is currently in a disastrous state. Many houses are abandoned, in danger of collapsing or already in ruins. The old town today is a drastic example of an urban state of neglect.

The Temple of Poseidon is a Doric temple is the oldest temple in Magna Graecia and the only Greek religious structure still visible in the old town of Taranto. The temple dates to the first quarter of the 6th century BC. It fell into ruins in the Middle Ages. The ruins were parts of a church and a monastery. In 1700 there were ten columns left, but they were removed and lost.