Taranto, Italy

Taranto sits on the Ionian Sea in Puglia, home to roughly 190,000 residents and founded by Spartan settlers in 706 BC as Taras. The city spans a small island old town and a mainland sector, joined by the 1887 swing bridge and the 140-metre 1887 Stone Bridge. On the island rises the 940 Aragonese Castle, one of the oldest in the country, while the 1071 Taranto Cathedral holds Byzantine frescoes. Italy's largest steel plant, opened in 1965, occupies the northwest shore, and the reasons behind its placement there reach back further than you might expect.