The expansionist policy of Bonaparte highlighted again the particular strategic rôle of Taranto’s port and roadstead. The French occupation lasted, with ups and downs, until 1815. The pleasant aspect of the territory balanced economic instability whereby war and drought slowed down commerce and reduced olive culture and manufacturing industry.
The restoration resulted in a decision to reduce the city to a second class public square and limit the expenses of the government to the simple maintenance of its walls.
On 1 April 1837 the king authorized the expansion of the city outside the fortifications within specified limits. In 1857 the mayor insisted on an enlarged village beyond the bridge; he argued the contradiction of a commercial city within a closed public square.
Between 1861 and 1865 the opening of the Suez Canal re-launched the national and international rôles of Taranto, it was deemed urgent and expedient to furnish the city not only with an efficient and competitive commercial port, but also with a great naval base.
The population was small and mostly represented by:
- fishermen, who derived their source of living exclusively from the sea and were linked to the marine banks (where they moored their boats) because of the needs of their job;
- craftsmen, whose productive initiatives were strictly related to the urban centre;
- landowners, quite limited in number, who benefited from rich houses within the city and earned money from the rented villas, lands and rural houses in the outskirts of Taranto.
In 1882 a government bill to establish a Military Arsenal in Taranto was passed by the Chamber. In 1883 the first phase of the Arsenal production and the works for the excavation of a navigation channel between Mar Piccolo and Mar Grande were begun simultaneously.
Works for the ship canal
(1883-89)
General enthusiasm for the works in the military yard, made people forget a drastic reduction in the traditional production of oysters and mussels despite reports of the Chamber of Commerce of Lecce clearly linking water pollution to the movement of military ships.
In 1887 attention was also concentrated on the bridge on two seas (the swivel bridge), the synthesis and communication between the old and the new Taranto.
The Arsenal was officially inaugurated on 21 August 1889.
The city witnessed an improvement in its services and commercial structures, even if there were still contradictions and conflicts for the fisherman from the Military Arsenal, the poor ancient tradition versus the new industrial wealth imposed from above.
From an economic point of view, on one hand there was the inauguration of new shipyards; on the other hand the sea industry continued its slow decline.
The sea industry was excluded from the innovation process which invested in the city and introduced a series of structural changes, not always consistent with the natural vocation of Taranto, despite its affinity with (and potential for) valuable food production.
View of the bridge
both open and closed