Italian Army
The Italian Army is the land-based component of the Italian Armed Forces of the Italian Republic. The army's history dates back to the unification of Italy in the 1860s; the army fought in colonial engagements in China, Northern Italy against the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, Abyssinia before World War II and in World War II in Albania, North Africa and Italy itself. During the Cold War, the army prepared itself to defend against a Warsaw Pact invasion from the east. Since the end of the Cold War, the army has seen extensive peacekeeping service and combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, its best-known combat vehicles are the Dardo infantry fighting vehicle, the Centauro tank destroyer and the Ariete tank and among its aircraft the Mangusta attack helicopter deployed in UN missions. The headquarters of the Army General Staff are located in Rome, at the back of the Presidential Palace; the army is an all-volunteer force of active-duty personnel. The Italian Army originated as the Royal Army which dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy following the seizure of the Papal States and the unification of Italy.
In 1861, under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi, Victor Emmanuel II of the House of Savoy was invited to take the throne and of the newly created kingdom. Italian expeditions were dispatched to China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and to Libya during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912; the Italian Royal Army's first real taste of modern warfare was during World War I. Most of the actions were fought in northern Italy and the Royal Army suffered many casualties; this included over 700,000 dead. In particular, the frequency of the offensives in which Italian soldiers participated between May 1915 and August 1917, one every three months, was higher than demanded by the armies on the Western Front. Italian discipline was harsher, with punishments for infractions of duty of a severity not known in the German and British armies. During the Interwar Years the Royal Army participated in the Italian Invasion of Ethiopia, provided men and materials during the Spanish Civil War to fight in the Corps of Volunteer Troops, launched the Italian invasion of Albania.
On paper, the Royal Army was one of the largest ground forces in World War II, though in reality it could not field the numbers claimed, it was one of the pioneers in the use of paratroopers. Due to their smaller size, many Italian divisions were reinforced by an Assault Group of two battalions of Blackshirts. Reports of Italian military prowess in the Second World War were always, dismissive; this perception was the result of disastrous Italian offensives against Egypt and the performance of the army in the Greco-Italian War. Both campaigns were executed inadequately; the Italian 10th Army advanced into Egypt but surrendered after being pushed back into central Libya and all destroyed by a force one fifth its size in the British three-month campaign of Operation Compass. Incompetent military leadership was aggravated by the Italian military's equipment, which predominantly dated back to the First World War and was not up to the standard of either the Allied or the German armies. Italian'medium' M11, M13, M14 and M15 tanks were at a marked disadvantage against the comparatively armed American Sherman tanks, for example.
More crucially, Italy lacked suitable quantities of equipment of all kinds and the Italian high command did not take necessary steps to plan for possible setbacks on the battlefield, or for proper logistical support to its field armies. There were too few anti-aircraft weapons, obsolete anti-tank guns, too few trucks; the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia fought under General Giovanni Messe, who acknowledged the limitations of his Corps in material and equipment and thus was relieved of his command on November 1, 1942. When the Soviet offensive Operation Saturn began on December 12, 1942 the Italian 8th Army was crushed. Only about a third of its troops managed to escape the Soviet cauldron, most notably from the three Alpini Divisions Tridentina and Cuneense, which fought stubbornly and to their total annihilation to escape the Soviet encirclement. In North Africa, the Italian 132 Armored Division Ariete and the 185 Airborne Division Folgore fought to total annihilation at the Second Battle of El Alamein.
Although the battle was lost, the determined resistance of the Italian soldiers at the Battle of Keren in East Africa is still commemorated today by the Italian military. After the Axis defeat in Tunisia the morale of the Italian troops dropped and when the Allies landed in Sicily on July 10, 1943 most Italian Coastal divisions dissolved; the sagging morale led to the overthrow of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy 15 days later. In September 1943, Italy made an armistice with the Allies and split into the Italian Social Republic – a puppet state of Germany – in the north and that of the Badoglio government in the south; the Italian Co-Belligerent Army was the army of the Italian royalist forces fighting on the side of the Allies in southern Italy after the Allied armistice with Italy in September 1943. The Italian soldiers fighting in this army no longer fought for Benito Mussolini as their allegiance was to King Victor Emmanuel and to Marshal of Italy Pietro Badoglio, the men who ousted Mussolini.
The kingdom was replaced by a Republic in June 1946 and the Royal Army changed its name to become the Italian Army. The army fielded five infantry divisions, create
Commander
Commander is a common naval and air force officer rank. Commander is used as a rank or title in other formal organisations, including several police forces. Commander is a generic term for an officer commanding any armed forces unit, for example "platoon commander", "brigade commander" and "squadron commander". In the police, terms such as "borough commander" and "incident commander" are used. Commander is a rank used in navies but is rarely used as a rank in armies; the title "master and commander," originated in the 18th century to describe naval officers who commanded ships of war too large to be commanded by a lieutenant but too small to warrant the assignment of a post-captain and a sailing-master. In practice, these were unrated sloops-of-war of no more than 20 guns; the Royal Navy shortened "master and commander" to "commander" in 1794. The equivalent American rank master commandant remained in use until changed to commander in 1838. A corresponding rank in some navies is frigate captain.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, the rank has been assigned the NATO rank code of OF-4. Various functions of commanding officers were styled commandeur. In the navy of the Dutch Republic, anyone who commanded a ship or a fleet without having an appropriate rank to do so, could be called a Commandeur; this included acting captains. In the fleet of the Admiralty of Zealand however, commandeur was a formal rank, the equivalent of Schout-bij-nacht in the other Dutch admiralties; the Dutch use of the title as a rank lives on in the Royal Netherlands Navy, as the equivalent of commodore. In the Royal Netherlands Air Force, this rank is known by the English spelling of commodore, the Dutch equivalent of the British air commodore; the rank of commander in the Royal Australian Navy is identical in description to that of a commander in the British Royal Navy. RAN chaplains who are in sivisions 1, 2 or 3 have the equivalent rank standing of commanders; this means that to officers and NCOs below the rank of commander, lieutenant colonel, or wing commander, the chaplain is a superior.
To those officers ranked higher than commander, the chaplain is subordinate. Although this equivalency exists, RAN chaplains who are in divisions 1, 2 or 3 do not wear the rank of commander, they hold no command privilege. In Denmark, the rank of commander exists as kommandørkaptajn, senior to kaptajn and kommandør ("commander", senior to kommandørkaptajn. In France, the rank of commander exists as capitaine de frégate, it is senior to capitaine de corvette, junior to capitaine de vaisseau. The rank of commander was used in the Imperial Japanese Navy, continues to be used in the modern Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. Though the modern rank is translated as "commander" in English, its literal translation is "captain second rank"; the rank is equivalent to that of a commander in the U. S. Navy. Commander is a rank in the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, is denoted by the post-nominal letters CLJ; the corresponding rank in the Polish Navy is komandor porucznik. In the Russian Navy the equivalent rank to commander is "captain of the second rank".
The rank was introduced in Russia by Peter the Great in 1722. From the introduction of the Russian Table of Ranks to its abolition in 1917, "captain of the second rank" was equal to a court councillor, at the sixth level out of 14 ranks; until 1856 it was conferred hereditary nobility on the holder. The equivalent rank in the Soviet Navy from 1918 to 1935 was "first mate"; the rank returned to the Imperial Russian Navy form of "captain 2nd rank" in 1935. Commander is a naval rank in Scandinavia equivalent to the Anglo-American naval rank of captain; the Scandinavian the rank of commander is above "commander-captain", equivalent to the Anglo-American naval rank of commander. In the Spanish Navy the equivalent rank to commander is capitán de fragata. A commander in the Royal Navy is above the rank of lieutenant commander, below the rank of captain, is equivalent in rank to a lieutenant colonel in the army. A commander may command a frigate, submarine, aviation squadron or shore installation, or may serve on a staff.
Since the British Royal Air Force's mid-rank officers' ranks are modelled on those of the Royal Navy, the term wing commander is used as a rank, this is the equivalent of a lieutenant colonel in the army or a commander in the navy. The rank of wing commander is below that of group captain. In the former Royal Naval Air Service, merged with the Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force in 1918, the pilots held appointments as well as their normal ranks in the Royal Navy, they wore insignia appropriate to the appointment instead of the rank. A flight commander wore a star above a lieutenant's two rank stripes, squadron commander wore two stars above two rank stripes or two-and-a-half rank stripes, wing commander wore three rank stripes; the rank stripes had the usual Royal Navy curl, they were surmounted by an eagle. Commander is a two-star field grade officer of Vietnam People's Navy For instance, as
Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy
The Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy is the commander of the Italian Navy
1st San Marco Regiment
The 1st San Marco Regiment, located in Brindisi, is an amphibious formation of the Italian Navy. They are the Italian marines; until the middle of the 1990s the unit was known as the San Marco Battalion, until it was expanded beyond battalion size because of the new geopolitical situation after the end of the Cold War and an increasing number of international missions, after as the San Marco Regiment. In 2013 it became part of the San Marco Marine Brigade as 1st San Marco Regiment. Marines of Italy was created as Fanti da Mar in 1550 in the Republic of Venice; the San Marco Regiment traces its history back to the La Marina Regiment, formed in 1713. During the Wars of Italian Independence the Italian Marines were known as the Fanteria Real Marina, units of specially selected sailors who were skilled marksmen; the regiment played an important role in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion and in the Italo-Turkish War. With the beginning of the Italian campaign during World War I, the unit was named the Brigata Marina, included two regiments, one infantry and one artillery.
The brigade's infantry battalions were drawn from various Army and customs units, in addition to sailors from the torpedoed Italian navy cruiser Amalfi who were hastily equipped as infantry. Following the Battle of Caporetto in October–November 1917, the Italian front had collapsed and the Marina Brigade fought in the defence of Venice during the Battle of the Piave River. After the war, the grateful city presented a flag with the Lion of Saint Mark, from Venice's coat of arms, to the marines of the Naval Brigade; the Naval Brigade was renamed the San Marco Brigade because of the connection with Venice, the Italian ship of the same name, sunk in World War I. Between the two world wars only a “San Marco Battalion” existed. A special unit of the battalion was sent to garrison the Italian concession in Tianjin, China in 1924 and stayed there until it was interned by the Japanese in 1943, when Italy declared war on the Axis. In the confusion, one post resisted, holding out against Japanese attacks for 24 hours before surrendering.
The interned Italians were given the choice to represent the collaborationist fascist government, or become prisoners of war. The San Marco Battalion served during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. At the beginning of the Second World War it became a two battalion regiment and increased in size, prepared for amphibious landings at Cape Martin in France which never happened; when Italy attacked Yugoslavia in April 1941, the San Marco Marines carried out successful landings on several islands in the Adriatic and seized ports against minimal resistance. The regiment expanded to seven battalions before the final desert battles in 1943, including the Battaglione Nuotatori who were trained as parachutists in 1941; the 3rd Battalion of the'San Marco' Regiment, which became known as the Tobruk battalion, repelled landings by British Commandos at Tobruk during the night of 13/14 September 1942, in the course of the botched Operation Agreement. As a result, 200 British Commandos were taken prisoner; the regiment fought at Tobruk and Tunisia, where it defended the Mareth line during April and May 1943.
The Tobruk Battalion was destroyed on the night of 5 April 1943 while defending the Oidane-el-Hachana line against an attack on Wadi Akarit by the British 69th Infantry Brigade and Gurkha units from the Indian Army 4th Infantry Division."When we were about ten yards away we had reached the top of the slit trench and we killed any of the survivors," recalled British infantryman Bill Cheall, who had just seen his section leader shot down by a San Marco Marine. "It was no time for pussy footing, we were intoxicated with rage and had to kill them to pay for our fallen pal." The Italian Marines, well dug and plentifully supplied with automatic weapons and grenades, fought well, casualties among the 6th Green Howards had been severe. German General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim said of the San Marco Marines fighting abilities in Tunisia in 1943, that they were "the best soldiers I commanded". Following the Italian surrender in 1943, many San Marco marines fought for the Allies against the Germans, however the 4th Battalion fought for the Axis until the end of the war.
The San Marco Marine Regiment was deactivated in 1956 but was reformed on 1 January 1965 to battalion strength in Venice with 750 personnel. During the Italian-Yugoslav tensions of Trieste and Istria, the Yugoslav head of state Tito requested the Italian government move the unit from Venice, because he believed it represented a possible aggression against Yugoslavia, that it was not necessary for the defense of Italy according to the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty; the battalion was shifted to Brindisi Naval Base in Southern Italy and integrated into the Italian Navy. In Venice, the Italian Army reconstituted its Lagunari amphibious infantry. From 1982 to 1984 the San Marco battalion took part in international UN peacekeeping missions in Lebanon. Today the San Marco Marine Regiment consists of the Amphibious Battalion Grado and the Support Battalion Golametto with 1,500 marines. Combined with the Logistics and Training Regiment “Carlotto”, landing boats and helicopters, the San Marco Regiment can conduct amphibious assaults and landings.
If necessary, the San Marco Regiment can be reinforced by the Army's Lagunari. The naval command is connected by a unified operations staff and is associated with the Spanish Marines through the SILF joint landing force; the San Marco Regiment has been active in international peace-keeping operations. Since th
Grottaglie
Grottaglie is a town and comune in the province of Taranto, Apulia, in southern Italy. Grottaglie is located in the Salento peninsula; the countryside around the city is scattered with vast and deep ravines in the limestone that underlies the peninsula. The urban core of Grottaglie is surrounded by these ravines. There is evidence of settlement in the region since the Paleolithic era; the name Grottaglie derives from the Latin Cryptae Aliae, meaning "many ravines". The ancestral part of the town was one of the citadels in the area, referred to in Medieval documents as Casale Cryptalerum, founded by locals sheltering in the caves of the ravines due to coastal Saracen raids; the fief of Grottaglie was donated by the Norman overlords to the archbishopric of Taranto in the 11th century. In the 14th century the ecclesiastic administration provided the fief with fortifications, walls, a fortress known as the Archbishop's Castle as well as with the Chiesa Matrice. Since the 15th-17th centuries the jurisdiction over Grottaglie fief was split between the ecclesiastic administration and the lay feudal lords.
Fights between these two competing authorities and periodic revolts by the heavily-taxed population were the leit-motiv of Grottaglie’s history until the abolition of feudalism in 1806. After the Italian unification, Grottaglie had the first urban expansion outside its Medieval walls. Castello Episcopio: Massive 13th-century castle. Chiesa Matrice: main church of the town, built in 1379. Oratory of the Confraternity of the Purgatory Palazzo Cicinelli, a massive Baroque style building on the main square; the palazzo was the seat of the Dukes of Grottaglie Princes of Cursi and Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, hence the residence of the feudal lords of the town on the grant of Bohemond I. Palazzo Urselli, which maintains the original Renaissance façade, with a massive 15th century gate and a decorated internal courtyard. Palazzo Maggiulli-Cometa, whose structure is similar to Palazzo Urselli’s. Palazzo de Felice: 18th Century palace, ancestral home of the de Felice family. San Francesco di Paola: Baroque monastery, a masterpiece architecture with a cloister.
Chiesa del Carmine, housing a 1530 stone nativity scene sculpted by Stefano da Putignano. Folkloristic and religious events include the commemoration-day of St. Cyrus and Easter-period when the Medieval-rooted confraternal religious orders perform their processions during the days of the Holy Week. Other events include: The exhibition “Ceramica nel Quartiere delle Ceramiche” The Mediterranean ceramics contest and musical events Promotion of dessert grapes, months of July–August–September Exhibition-contest about ceramic crib scene during the months of December and January “Musica Mundi” – international festival of ethnic music in July. Source: Grottaglie.it - ProLocoGrottaglie.org. Grapes and ceramics-industry are two traditional elements of the local economy since the times of Greater Greece; the numerous ceramic finds, tracing back to the Classical Age and kept in the National Museum of "Magna Grecia" in Taranto, reveal the antique roots of this handicrafts production, privileged by the presence of considerable amounts of clay in the surrounding territory.
More records dating back to the 18th century report at the time 42 companies in Grottaglie operating in the ceramics-sector with a total of 5,000 employees. In addition to ceramics agricultural products such as olive oil and excellent choice dessert grapes are of great importance. Alenia Composite is a factory of Alenia group producing parts for the Boeing 787. "Grottaglie". New International Encyclopedia. 1905
Italy
Italy the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Austria and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 and has a temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe. Due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, Italy has been home to a myriad of peoples and cultures. In addition to the various ancient peoples dispersed throughout modern-day Italy, the most famous of which being the Indo-European Italics who gave the peninsula its name, beginning from the classical era and Carthaginians founded colonies in insular Italy and Genoa, Greeks established settlements in the so-called Magna Graecia, while Etruscans and Celts inhabited central and northern Italy respectively; the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People.
The Roman Republic conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the peninsula, in some cases through the establishment of federations, the Republic expanded and conquered parts of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. By the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became the leading cultural and religious centre of Western civilisation, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Italy's technology, economy and literature flourished. Italy remained the metropole of the Roman Empire; the legacy of the Roman Empire endured its fall and can be observed in the global distribution of culture, governments and the Latin script. During the Early Middle Ages, Italy endured sociopolitical collapse and barbarian invasions, but by the 11th century, numerous rival city-states and maritime republics in the northern and central regions of Italy, rose to great prosperity through shipping and banking, laying the groundwork for modern capitalism.
These independent statelets served as Europe's main trading hubs with Asia and the Near East enjoying a greater degree of democracy than the larger feudal monarchies that were consolidating throughout Europe. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science and art. Italian culture flourished, producing famous scholars and polymaths such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Machiavelli. During the Middle Ages, Italian explorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, John Cabot and Giovanni da Verrazzano discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery. Italy's commercial and political power waned with the opening of trade routes that bypassed the Mediterranean. Centuries of infighting between the Italian city-states, such as the Italian Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, left the region fragmented, it was subsequently conquered and further divided by European powers such as France and Austria.
By the mid-19th century, rising Italian nationalism and calls for independence from foreign control led to a period of revolutionary political upheaval. After centuries of foreign domination and political division, Italy was entirely unified in 1871, establishing the Kingdom of Italy as a great power. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Italy industrialised, namely in the north, acquired a colonial empire, while the south remained impoverished and excluded from industrialisation, fuelling a large and influential diaspora. Despite being one of the main victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil, leading to the rise of a fascist dictatorship in 1922. Participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in military defeat, economic destruction and the Italian Civil War. Following the liberation of Italy and the rise of the resistance, the country abolished the monarchy, reinstated democracy, enjoyed a prolonged economic boom and, despite periods of sociopolitical turmoil became a developed country.
Today, Italy is considered to be one of the world's most culturally and economically advanced countries, with the sixth-largest worldwide national wealth. Its advanced economy ranks eighth-largest in the world and third in the Eurozone by nominal GDP. Italy owns the third-largest central bank gold reserve, it has a high level of human development, it stands among the top countries for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military and diplomatic affairs. Italy is a founding and leading member of the European Union and a member of numerous international institutions, including the UN, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the WTO, the G7, the G20, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Council of Europe, Uniting for Consensus, the Schengen Area and many more; as a reflection
Taranto
Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base, it is the third-largest continental city of Southern Italy. According to 2011 population census, it had a population of 200,154. Taranto is an important commercial and military port with well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, naval shipyards, food-processing factories. In ancient times around 500 BC the city was one of the largest in the world with population estimates up to 300,000 people. Taranto's pre-history dates back to 706 BC when it was founded as a Greek colony, established by the Spartans; the ancient city was situated on a peninsula. The islets of S. Pietro and S. Paolo, collectively known as Cheradi Islands, protect the bay, called Mar Grande, where the commercial port is located. Another bay, called Mar Piccolo, is formed by the peninsula of the old city, has flourishing fishing.
Mar Piccolo is a military port with strategic importance. At the end of the 19th century, a channel was excavated to allow military ships to enter the Mar Piccolo harbour, the ancient Greek city become an island connected to the mainland by bridges. In addition, the islets and the coast are fortified; because of the presence of these two bays, Taranto is called "the city of the two seas". The Greek colonists from Sparta called the city Taras, after the mythical hero Taras, while the Romans, who connected the city to Rome with an extension of the Appian way, called it Tarentum; the natural harbor at Taranto made it a logical home port for the Italian naval fleet before and during the First World War. During World War II, Taranto became famous as a consequence of the November 1940 British air attack on the Regia Marina naval base stationed here, which today is called the Battle of Taranto. Taranto is the origin of the common name of the Tarantula spider family, Theraphosidae though speaking there are no members of Theraphosidae in the area.
In ancient times, residents of the town of Taranto, upon being bitten by the large local Wolf Spider, Lycosa tarentula, would promptly do a long vigorous dance like a Jig. This was done in order to sweat the venom out of their pores though the spider's venom was not fatal to humans; the frenetic dance became known as the Tarantella. In geology, Taranto gives its name to the Tarantian Age of the Pleistocene Epoch. Taranto faces the Ionian Sea, it is 14.5 metres above sea level. It was built on a plain running north/north-west–southeast, surrounded by the Murgia plateau from the north-west to the east, its territory extends for 209.64 square kilometres and is underwater. It is characterised by three natural peninsulas and a man-made island, formed by digging a ditch during the construction of Aragon Castle; the city is known as the "city of two seas" because it is washed by the Big Sea in the bay between Punta Rondinella to the northwest and Capo San Dante to the south, by the vast reservoir of the Little Sea.
The Big Sea is known as the Big Sea bay as, where ships harbour. It is separated from the Little Sea by a cape which closes the gulf, leading to the artificial island; this island formed the heart of the original city and it is connected to the mainland by the Ponte di Porta Napoli and the Ponte Girevole. The Big Sea is separated from the Ionian Sea by the Capo San Vito, the Isole Cheradi of St Peter and St Paul, the three islands of San Nicolicchio, which are incorporated by the steel plant; the latter form a little archipelago. The Little Sea is considered to be a lagoon, it is divided into two by the Ponte Punta Penna Pizzone, which joins the Punta Penna to the Punta Pizzone. The first of these forms a rough triangle, whose corners are the opening to the east and the Porta Napoli channel linking it to the Big Sea in the west; the second half forms an ellipse whose major axis measures 5 kilometres from the south-west to the north-east. The Galeso river flows into the first half; the two water bodies have different winds and tides and their underwater springs have different salinities.
These affect the currents on the surface and in the depths of the Big Sea and the two halves of the Little Sea. In the Big Sea and in the northern part of the Little Sea, there are some underwater springs called citri, which carry undrinkable freshwater together with salt water; this creates the ideal biological conditions for cultivating Mediterranean mussels, known locally as cozze. The climate of the city, recorded by the weather station situated near the Grottaglie Military Airport, is typical of the Mediterranean with frequent Continental features; the spring is mild and rainy, but it is not uncommon to have sudden cold spells come in from the east, which cause snowfall. Average annual precipitation is low, measuring just 16.7 inches per year. The summer is hot and humid, with temperatures reaching up to 40 °C. On 28 November 2012 a large F3 tornado hit the port of Taranto and damaged the Taranto Steel Mill where workers were protesting against the plant's pollution emissions; the tornado is one of nine to hit Italy since 1 October.
It is classified as Geographical
Italy
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