Taranto

Taranto needs 1 day: the Museo Archeologico Nazionale (MArTA), home to Italy's most important collection of Magna Graecia gold and ceramics, in the morning, and the Ponte Girevole, the swing bridge connecting the Città Vecchia -an artificial island between the Mar Grande and the Mar Piccolo- to the new town, in the afternoon. April-June and September-October bring the mildest weather. It's inexpensive by Italian standards. Founded by Spartan settlers in the 8th century BC, it was the most important city of Magna Graecia at its peak, and today its two inner bays -the Mar Piccolo- sustain one of Italy's largest mussel farming industries, grown on submerged ropes for centuries.