Since Italian Unification
On 9 September 1860, Taranto became part of the temporary government founded by Giuseppe Garibaldi after his conquest of the Two Sicilies kingdom. In the following year, all Southern Italy was annexed to the Savoy dynasty's Kingdom of Piemonte-Sardinia, which became the Kingdom of Italy. In those years Taranto had 27,000 inhabitants.
Between May and June 1866, the newly formed Regia Marina — the Kingdom of Italy navy resulted from the unification of Sardinian, Neapolitan-Sicilian, Tuscan and Pontificial navies — was collected in Taranto harbour, because of the imminent declaration of war against Austria (Third Independence War). On 21 June, one day too late to allow Admiral Carlo di Persano to receive Tarentine honorary citizenship, the fleet left for the Adriatic Sea. After the defeat of the Italian fleet at Lissa, Persano was put under trial for incompetence and cowardice, and his easy days in Taranto was indicated as part of his bad behaviour.
During World War I, Taranto was base for Regia Marina warships. On 2 August 1916, Leonardo da Vinci, a Conte di Cavour class battleship, sank after alleged sabotage.
On the night of 11 November 1940, during World War II, the Italian ships, which were at anchor in Mar Grande and Mar Piccolo, were severely damaged by British naval forces in what became known as the Battle of Taranto. British forces landed near the port on September 9, 1943 as part of the Allied invasion (Operation Slapstick).
Read more about this topic: History Of Taranto
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“The French courage proceeds from vanity—the German from phlegm—the Turkish from fanaticism & opium—the Spanish from pride—the English from coolness—the Dutch from obstinacy—the Russian from insensibility—but the Italian from anger.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)