National Archaeological Museum of Taranto

The National Archaeological Museum of Taranto, commonly known by its acronym MArTA, is one of Italy's most important archaeological institutions. Located in Taranto, Apulia, it houses one of the largest collections of artifacts from Magna Graecia, the Greek colonial world of southern Italy. The museum is particularly renowned for the Gold of Taranto, an extraordinary assemblage of Hellenistic jewelry that has made the institution famous internationally. Operated by the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, MArTA serves as a central repository for understanding the ancient history of Taranto and the broader Apulian region from prehistory through late antiquity.

The museum was founded in 1887 by the archaeologist Luigi Viola, who envisioned it as a museum dedicated to Magna Graecia as a whole. Viola served as its first director and established its scholarly orientation. The institution was originally housed in the former Convent of San Pasquale de Baylon, an eighteenth-century building in Taranto's Città Nuova (New City). The neoclassical facade was designed by Guglielmo Calderini beginning in 1903. The building was expanded with a new wing between 1935 and 1941, but suffered damage during World War II. Restoration took place from 1949 to 1952. Beginning in 1998, the museum underwent extensive restructuring campaigns, and it was progressively reopened to the public between 2007 and 2013. The prehistoric section on the second floor was inaugurated in summer 2016. That same year, the museum recorded 85,000 visitors.

The collections span from the Paleolithic period to the Byzantine era, organized as a chronological journey through the region's history. The museum's holdings are divided into three main sections. The topographical section on the raised ground floor is used for temporary exhibitions and conferences. The Greco-Roman department on the first floor is devoted to the aristocratic society of ancient Taranto. The prehistoric department on the second floor contains material from across Apulia from the Paleolithic through the Bronze Age. While Viola originally intended the museum to cover Magna Graecia broadly, the collections have remained focused primarily on archaeological documentation from Taranto and the rest of Apulia. The chronological arrangement allows visitors to trace the region's development from the Neolithic period through Greek colonization, Roman civilization, late antiquity, and into the Byzantine period.

The museum's most celebrated possessions are the Ori di Taranto, the Gold of Taranto, comprising Hellenistic jewelry from tombs in southern Italy. These include a vegetal diadem adorned with garnets, carnelians, and multicolored enamel; a nucifrangibulum (nutcracker) formed of two articulated bronze forearms plated with gold; gold necklace clasps often shaped as two lion mouths, a motif also found on bracelets and rings; and conical gold earrings with female heads and boat-shaped forms with pendants. The sculpture collection features a dignified fifth-century BCE kore of Parian marble, a head of Aphrodite considered a masterpiece of Hellenistic art, a statue of Athena, a head of Heracles from the Greco-Roman period, a bronze statue of Zeus from Ugento (Lecce), and the body of a nymph. The Roman section includes first-century BCE to first-century CE heads of local Caparo stone, imperial mosaics, and inscriptions from public and private buildings. From Tarentine necropoleis come an archaic sarcophagous fully painted on its interior, a kline, and gables and beams from house facades. The ceramic collection includes Corinthian export wares from grave assemblages, pink clay vases with black mythological and athletic scenes from archaic necropoleis, a bronze horse, an aryballos, a skyphos by the Theseus Painter, three kylikes, a kylix with a Gorgon mask, and a kylix by the Fish Painter. Other significant objects include the Ostrakon Mappa di Soleto and the famous Tomb of the Athlete of Taranto.

The museum occupies the former Convent of San Pasquale de Baylon, also known as the Convent of the Alcantarini (Minor Friars inspired by Peter of Alcantara), built in the eighteenth century in Taranto's Città Nuova. The building's neoclassical facade was executed from 1903 according to designs by Guglielmo Calderini (1837-1916). An expansion added a new wing between 1935 and 1941. After wartime damage, restoration from 1949 to 1952 returned the building to usable condition. The structure comprises multiple floors: the raised ground floor (high parterre) for temporary exhibitions, the first floor for the Greco-Roman section, and the second floor for the prehistoric section. The building is situated on the Cours Umberto-I in central Taranto.

The National Archaeological Museum of Taranto is located in Taranto, Apulia, in southern Italy. It is operated by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities of Italy. The museum's official website is https://museotaranto.cultura.gov.it/. Following its progressive reopening between 2007 and 2013, the museum has functioned as a fully accessible public institution, with the second-floor prehistoric section opening in summer 2016. In 2016, the museum attracted 85,000 visitors.