Taranto fortress
During the Spanish period (from 1500 to the end of 1600) Taranto added to its rôle of military stronghold of the Viceroyalty that of communication and links with Calabria and the Aegean
The University of Taranto was also involved in strategic
issues, but was more concerned with the financial aspect of
the interventions; it declared its ownership of the urban
fortifications and in 1528 completed an inventory of its
possessions by cataloguing those fortified works which had been built at its own expense, both along the channel and along the north and south borders of the city.
Fortification project
The square with the Cittadella tower
In 1563 the Viceroy promulgated general rules for the construction of the towers for all the marinas of the kingdom, so that many coastal towers on the territory of Taranto were built or adapted according to these rules.
The Castle is the only prominent element. The image emerging from the most important descriptive work of the 1500 is that of a city which was a pearl during the Graecia Magna period and now equipped with a castle, even if inhabited only by fishermen. Yet, the economy was not limited to fishing, the port was very active and used by Florentine merchants to export corn to Genoa and Viareggio on Sicilian ships.
Yet general economic conditions tended to worsen. Fishing and farming activities assumed a mono-cultural aspect; the city was dominated by an archaic economy, with no regeneration within the poor and limited number of dependent activities and industries.
The religious and noble classes and a small scale bourgeoisie owned the surrounding countryside and managed a production system that did not expand but merely supported itself and gratified its own personal cultural satisfaction.
Speziale, hypothesis of reconstruction of the Castle
