The province of Taranto ( it, provincia di Taranto;

Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensemble ...

: ;

Salentino Salentino () is a dialect of the Extreme Southern Italian ( in Italian) spoken in the Salento peninsula, which is the southern part of the region of Apulia at the southern "heel" of the Italian peninsula. Overview Salentino is a dialect of the ...

: ), previously known as the province of the Ionian, is a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

in the

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

region of Italy. Its capital is the city of

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

. It has an area of , and a total population of 581,092 (2017). There are 29 '' comuni'' (singular: ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'') in the province, all of which are listed at

comunes of the Province of Taranto The following is a list of the 29 municipalities (''comuni'') of the Province of Taranto, Apulia, Italy. List See also *List of municipalities of Italy References {{Province of Taranto Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label=Tarantino, ...

. The coat of arms of the province contains a scorpion, which Pyrrhus is thought to have seen when looking down at Taranto.

History

When Italy was unified, the province of Lecce was formed; the western section of this later became the current province of Taranto. On 23 September 1923, Taranto became the capital of a new province based on the ancient

Terra d'Otranto The Terra di Otranto, or Terra d’Otranto (in English, Land of Otranto), is an historical and geographical region of Apulia, largely corresponding to the Salento peninsula, anciently part of the Kingdom of Sicily and later of the Kingdom of ...

, in recognition of the important role the city had served since ancient times. Until 1951, the new province was called the "Province of the Ionian". The scorpion on the city's coat of arms may have been used as its emblem in ancient times, on the suggestion of Pyrrhus of Epirus, who was an ally of Taranto in a war against

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

: the scorpion is shown lying on its back with three lilies, holding the crown of the Principality of Taranto between its claws. Pyrrhus, who was king of Epirus, looked down on the city from the hills that surround it and had the idea that its shape was like the figure of a scorpion. This emblem has also been seen as a psychological deterrent to the city's enemies, who came to look on

Magna Graecia Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these re ...

as being as dangerous as a scorpion. The earliest verified use of a scorpion on the coat of arms of Taranto is from 400 AD.

References

External links

Official websiteTourism in the province of Taranto
{{Authority control