TARANTO “IN CAMMINO”: DA BOMBA ECOLOGICA NAZIONALE A TESSERA DEL MOSAICO TURISTICO PUGLIESE ATTRAVERSO I GIOCHI DEL MEDITERRANEO 2025?

Although until the end of XX century, the metaphor most suitable for describing the territorial organization of Apulian tourism is “the flesh and the bone”; starting from the XXI century a wise regional policy has discovered new material and immaterial components of territorial milieu and favored the mosaic composition of local tourist space. In this mosaic, areas of Puglia that are highly equipped, but excluded from every circuit of tourist attraction, have found a place, particularly Taranto, on which this contribution focuses. Caged in the public image of an ecological bomb, Taranto is on the way to a strategic reposition that, considering its past, can change its image into an attractive center of the Apulian tourist area.