Villa Giardini Peripato | Taranto-Viva.com

A green oasis overlooking the Great Sea and the city's history.

Public spaces, squares, villas gardens

Villa Giardini Peripato is one of the main historic public parks in Taranto, a green area in the city center designed for strolling, resting in the shade, engaging in outdoor activities, and hosting social gatherings, cultural events, and initiatives. With its tree-lined avenues, flower beds, relaxation areas, and spaces for children, it represents an important urban green lung and a meeting place for residents and visitors. The name recalls the "peripatos," the philosophical walk of ancient Greece, evoking Taranto's deep connection to its Magna Graecia origins. The gardens developed as an urban villa between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during a period of transformation of the modern city when public green spaces became part of civic and bourgeois life. Over time, Villa Peripato has become an emotional and cultural reference point for the people of Taranto, linked to memories of Sunday walks, outdoor performances, and city life. From a tourist perspective, it is a pleasant stop for those visiting Taranto: it allows for a peaceful break during the itinerary in the city center, close to places of great interest such as the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto - MArTA, the seafront promenade, the Swing Bridge, and the Old Town. It is especially recommended during the milder hours to enjoy the shaded paths and relaxed atmosphere. Before visiting, it is useful to check for any opening hours, exhibitions, concerts, or events hosted in the park spaces.

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Photo Credits: Italo Mairo (AI assisted)

Photo Credits: Italo Mairo

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Perchè Visitare

Historical green lung of Taranto, Villa Peripato offers walks among centuries-old trees, fountains, and views of the Mar Piccolo. Ideal for a relaxing break in the city center, it combines nature, elegant atmosphere, and historical memory.

Web Links

Gardens of Villa Peripato - FAI - National Trust for Italy

Villa Peripato - Gardens of Puglia

Giardini Peripato - Wikipedia

Via Pitagora 71, 74123 Taranto IT, Italia

Google Maps Street View

Come raggiungere

From the center of Taranto, head towards the Borgo Umbertino and take via D’Aquino or via Di Palma towards via Pitagora. The Peripato Gardens are located between via Pitagora and via Pupino, just a few minutes walk from Piazza Maria Immacolata. If you're driving, follow the signs to the center/Borgo and look for parking in the surrounding streets.

Info Aggiuntive

The Peripato Gardens occupy an area of just under five hectares overlooking the Mar Piccolo, near the former convent of Sant'Antonio. The land rests on a limestone rock stratum, with deeper layers of Bradano clays; the surface is mostly flat, but towards the inner sea it features a green cliff and a particularly suggestive panoramic view point. Before becoming a public park, the area was known as the garden of Sant'Antonio and belonged to the de Beaumont family: since the end of the 17th century, it was cultivated with citrus fruits, fruit trees, crops, and vineyards. During the 19th century, thanks also to Marchesa Maddalena Bonelli, the place took on the character of a representational suburban residence, with tree-lined avenues, ornamental plants, hedges, stone benches, columns, statues, and a brick coffee house with exotic elements. After being transferred to the Municipality of Taranto, interventions were undertaken to transform the old private garden into a public park: in 1913, a retaining wall was built, and in the 1930s, reorganization works were carried out, including the planting of the pinewood, the installation of artistic benches and columns, and the placement of a bust of Leonardo da Vinci coming from a ship sunk in the Mar Piccolo during the First World War. Over time, the original layout underwent numerous transformations: an ancient orange grove was replaced by the open-air theater La Pineta, later turned into a cinema; some structures were demolished or adapted, and after the Second World War, part of the spaces was also used as a skating rink. The Villa Peripato also has significant archaeological interest: it preserves ancient levels connected to the rural transformation of areas already occupied by the Greek and Roman city, and modern investigations have identified wall structures belonging to dwellings of the early imperial age. From a botanical point of view, the plant heritage mainly includes Aleppo pines, holm oaks, strawberry trees, plane trees, lime trees, and cypresses, accompanied by more recently introduced species such as palms, magnolias, cedars, horse chestnuts, locust trees, tree of heaven, false pepper, and American cypresses. The hedges include essences of the Mediterranean maquis, such as holly, laurel, viburnum, and phillyrea, along with exotic species like pittosporum, myoporum, and thuja. Despite its historical, landscape, and botanical value, the complex has experienced periods of neglect, with problems regarding the conservation of greenery, trampling of flower beds, and interventions not always respectful of the trees' root systems; however, it remains a green space of great importance for the city.