Taranto delights: Greek gold, Orpheus and the Sirens

Life size sculptures travel from Taranto to Malibu and back again

Since reading the thick catalogue of the exhibit “Gli Ori di Taranto in Eta’ Ellenistica” held in Milano back in 1983 I have yearned to see the magnificent gold jewellery of Magna Grecia conserved at the Taranto archeological museum - MarTa.

the entrance to the vault-like museum complex is around the corner

Over the decades and moves between Rome, Genoa, Moscow and then settling down in the ultra-Etruscan area of Tuscia, the glow of ancient Greek gold began to fade from memory. A good substitute has been the Greek-inspired pieces created by my goldsmith friend Massimo Maria Melis at his workshop on Via dell’Orso in Rome. Click on the link to see Melis’s creations.

A few weeks ago I finally made it to Taranto, one of the ports on my recent cruise gig. Instead of joining the 4-hour long shore excursion costing $119, I grabbed the 1 euro local bus and rode along the seafront past the imposing Aragonese castle and the crumbling palazzi of Citta’ Vecchia to the modern area known as Citta’ Nuova and the former convent of the Alcantara monks on Via Cavour, now the seat of a modern 4-level museum complex.

thanks to Francesco Pignatale (Taranto/Viterbo) and Lory-Lynn and Doug Schinkel (Canada) for the photos. Map of Taranto from my collection.

one of many gold crowns

My first stop was to see the gold jewellery, where Maria, the museum’s most senior guard, struck up a conversation since I was one of the very few visitors that morning. She showed me the Roman glass and mosaics and guided me through the labyrinth of modern exhibition halls filled with precious Apulian vases.

the group of vases found in the Tomb of the Athletes

boat shaped earrings / mirror image

nutcracker of bronze and gold

Then we entered a large space on another floor and I was surprised to find the sculptural group of Orpheus and the Sirens, recently returned from the Getty Museum.

Two Sirens and two guards

Utterly modern and almost life size, this group was recovered thanks to the New York prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit after many years of investigation. The terracotta statues had been broken up and removed from Italy illegally, then exported through Switzerland by a trafficking network. According to Getty’s diary entry on March 6, 1976 “a group of three statues made in Tarentum at the end of the fourth century BCE” was purchased for $550,000, the equivalent of 8 million dollars today. When the group was returned to Italy in September 2022 it was displayed at the Museum of Rescued Art in Rome and then given a place of honor in Taranto’s MarTa Museum.

The dean of the Museum guards, Maria, chatting with a young colleague. Retiring this month after 40 years, her helpful explanations made my visit very special.

The magnificent terracotta sculpture group, 4th century B.C. Does anyone have a photo of the group at the Getty Museum ?

Here in central Italy several terracotta sculptures can be found: The Winged Horses of Tarquinia and this Demetra conserved at Viterbo’s Archeological Museum are two examples.

This month my book about the Etruria/Tuscia area is available at a discount (12 euro 8 euro ) for groups, museums, students. Send me a message for information. Reviews on my website .

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