What is Castellaneta known for?

Born here 6 May 1895 as Rodolfo Guglielmi, died in New York 1926, the silent-era actor whose ceramic statue stands in the centro storico. Karst canyon 145 meters deep wrapping the town, the deepest of the Murge gravines and the heart of the Terra delle Gravine park. Castellaneta Marina, fifteen kilometers south on the Ionian, pine-backed sand beach holding the Blue Flag for ten consecutive years.

Where is Castellaneta?

Castellaneta is a comune in the province of Taranto, Apulia region of Italy, about 41 kilometers from Taranto.

Apulia · Taranto

Castellaneta

A cliff-edge Murge townabove the Gravina Grande canyon, birthplace of Rudolph Valentino in 1895, with a Bandiera Blu Ionian marina.

41 km / 25 mi

Nearest hub (Taranto)

16,181

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Castellaneta sits on the Murge plateau, on the southern rim of the Gravina Grande, a karst canyon 10 kilometers long and 145 meters deep that wraps the town in near-vertical limestone walls. The municipal territory runs from the gravina down to the Ionian coast at Castellaneta Marina, fifteen kilometers south, where the long sand beach has held Bandiera Blu for ten consecutive years. The cathedral was founded under the Normans in the eleventh century, rebuilt in Romanesque form in the fourteenth, and given its white limestone facade in 1771. The town is best known abroad as the birthplace of Rodolfo Valentino, born here on 6 May 1895 and reborn in Hollywood as Rudolph Valentino. A blue ceramic statue of the actor by Luigi Gheno was unveiled in the centro storico in 1961, captured in the documentary Mondo Cane, and the Museo Rodolfo Valentino opened on the 1995 centenary.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Castellaneta fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Gallery

10 photos · scroll →

Known for

Gravina Grande
Karst canyon ten kilometers long and 145 meters deep wrapping the town on three sides, part of the Terra delle Gravine regional park.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Norman cathedral of the eleventh century rebuilt as a Romanesque basilica in the fourteenth and refaced in white limestone in 1771.
Museo Rodolfo Valentino
Civic museum opened on the actor's 1995 centenary, with the ceramic statue by Luigi Gheno unveiled in 1961 standing in the square outside.
Castellaneta Marina
Coastal frazione fifteen kilometers south, long pine-backed sand beach holding Bandiera Blu, the municipal seaside.
Centro storico
Walled old town on the gravina edge, narrow stone lanes, the Valentino statue and the cathedral square at its center.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the months the Murge is dry, mild, and the gravina edges walkable. July and August push past thirty-five degrees on the plateau and the centro storico empties in the afternoon, though Castellaneta Marina fills with Italian families and the beach is at its peak. The Festa di Santa Maria della Stella in May and the Carnevale procession through the centro storico are the civic anchors of the calendar. November through March is cool and quiet; the cathedral and the gravina overlooks photograph well in winter light and the coast empties out.