Taranto: Revitalizing the Energy of a Mediterranean Port City

Taranto, Italy, is a city on the Mediterranean serving as an important commercial port and the main Italian naval base. Mired by industrial pollution, Taranto is one of the most polluted cities in the world due primarily to emissions from the Ilva steel plant, the city’s primary employer. Environmental conditions combined with the leadership failures of governmental entities have created barriers to improving quality of life and utilizing existing assets for economic development and tourism. The authors analyze the possibilities for Taranto’s future should Ilva remain a viable employer, as well as economic development opportunities for future regional employment to ensure consistent employment should the steelworks become insolvent. This paper analyzes potential sustainable solutions for environmental remediation, expanding long-term energy solutions, leveraging historical assets for tourism, and utilizing existing assets for job creation, retention of unskilled and skilled labor, and attraction of a creative class to create a viable future for Taranto.