Athletes are still competing at the MarTA in Taranto

The very recent success of the Mediterranean Games has revitalised Taranto’s image as the ‘city of the two seas’ – the only Spartan colony in Italia – which has never been so open to the Mediterranean as it is today. Therefore, this September’s trip can only end at the MarTa, as the exhibition entitled ‘The Art of Victory. Athletes and Competitions in the Mediterranean’, which is enjoying enormous critical and public acclaim. Here, visitors can admire the athlete’s tomb, where the remains of the unknown sportsman who, in the 5th century BC, perished in Taranto after having competed in and won the Athens Games, as attested by the Panathenaic amphorae displayed on all four sides of his monumental limestone sarcophagus. Furthermore, on display are a hydra depicting a racing quadriga, scenes of wrestling, along with many other artefacts that bear witness to the strength of the athletes taking part in the most important competitions in the Mediterranean—often recounted by Plato in his writings. The terracotta head of a Greek woman with her famous hairstyle, adorned with a diadem – a typical element of women’s jewellery in the Greek world – dating from the 4th century BC; the floor mosaic depicting a satyr and a nymph; the exquisitely crafted gold navicella earrings, and the bronze statue depicting Zeus in the act of hurling a thunderbolt, discovered in the Messapian town of Ugento, all bear witness to the ancient artistic wealth of this far-flung corner of Apulia.