Apulia · Taranto
Castellaneta
A cliff-edge Murge town above the Gravina Grande canyon, birthplace of Rudolph Valentino in 1895, with a Bandiera Blu Ionian marina.
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 5 min from Bari
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 16,181
Known for
RUDOLPH VALENTINO
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.
GRAVINA GRANDE
Karst canyon 145 meters deep wrapping the town, the deepest of the Murge gravines and the heart of the Terra delle Gravine park.
MARINA BANDIERA BLU
Castellaneta Marina, fifteen kilometers south on the Ionian, pine-backed sand beach holding the Blue Flag for ten consecutive years.
PROTECTED PRODUCTS
The commune also lies inside the Mozzarella di Gioia del Colle DOP, Terre Tarentine DOP and Clementine del Golfo di Taranto IGP production zones.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J13°
- F14°
- M15°
- A18°
- M24°
- J30°
- J34°
- A33°
- S28°
- O23°
- N18°
- D14°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
The festa: Nicola di Bari, seconda domenica di maggio
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 Sunday letter
Castellaneta is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Castellaneta comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.
Read on
Castellaneta in our articles
The best hill towns inside a nature park in Puglia6 towns, Castellaneta among them.
The 7 best beach towns inside a nature park in Puglia7 towns, Castellaneta among them.
The best towns known for what they grow within 75 minutes of Bari7 towns, Castellaneta among them.
10 white towns of Puglia near Bari10 towns, Castellaneta among them.
How to get there
From Bari / Brindisi (BRI), about 1h 11m by car.
Lamezia / Reggio (SUF) is about 3h 40m away.
By car from the centre of Bari 1 hour, Lecce 2h 9m or Salerno 3h 20m.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Bari?
Coming by train into Taranto? Castellaneta is about 46 minutes away by road.
What to see
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.
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.
Through the year
What happens here
Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.
Sagra della Farnedd dei sapori di Pugliafood festival
usually held in August. TrovaSagre
Living here
- Population 16,181
- A local hubi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Bari / Brindisi, 1 h 11 min drive
- Regional capital Bari, 1 h 5 min drive
Common questions
- What is Castellaneta known for?
- Castellaneta is a cliff-edge Murge town at 235 meters above the Gravina Grande canyon, birthplace of Rudolph Valentino in 1895, with a Bandiera Blu Ionian marina.
- Where is Castellaneta?
- Castellaneta is a comune in the province of Taranto, in Apulia.
- What is the nearest airport to Castellaneta?
- Bari / Brindisi (BRI), about 1h 11m by car.
- Can you get to Castellaneta without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Bari to Castellaneta?
- About 1 hour by car.
- When is the best time to visit Castellaneta?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 34 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 10 rain days.
- Is there a sagra or a festival in Castellaneta?
- Yes. Sagra della Farnedd dei sapori di Puglia. August is when the first of them falls.
- Which other towns are like Castellaneta?
- Acquaviva delle Fonti, Casamassima and Castellana Grotte.
- How many people live in Castellaneta?
- 16,181 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 235 m
- Population: 16,181
- Surface area: 242.32 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
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