Right on the waterfront in Taranto we wandered across the moat into the courtyard. There wasn't a fee, but we were asked to sign a release before going inside. We peeked inside rooms from the main courtyard, Visiting the barracks, kitchen, and lots of ruins seeing broken pottery and coins.
The castle was built on the site of an older fortifications dating back to Greek occupation in the 3rd & 4th centuries BC. In 1481 the low ground in front of the fortification site was excavated to allow the passage of boats, & to create a moated defensive position. The present fortress was built for the then-king of Naples, Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1496 to reinforce the naturally low-lying link between the old town of Taranto on a peninsula, and the mainland. read more