Large attendance recorded at the event Taranto Port Days 2023

PORT OF TARANTO, 20 OCTOBER 2023 - Time to take stock of the 2023 edition of Taranto Port Days (TPD), the event that, over the weekend of 6 to 8 October, once again opened up the Port of Taranto to citizens, organising events, exhibitions, concerts and initiatives under the banner of culture, sport and entertainment, a rich programme that succeeded, once again this year, in bringing the community even closer to the port of Taranto, welcoming around 6,000 people to the TPD area.

This, in fact, is the first goal of the Port Days: to foster, through a synergical and osmotic process, the integration of the port with the social, institutional and entrepreneurial fabric of the territory.
Also for this reason, the Taranto Port Days was a long-waited event for the entire port community, institutions and private operators who, in their stands, once again had the opportunity to showcase and promote the various activities they carry out at and for the sea.

The visits to the port by bus and by sea, on board the JDC catamarans, were a great success, registering a flattering “sold out”; the catamarans, in particular, for the first time also hosted readings about the sea dedicated to children, a successful initiative within the framework of the cooperation started on the occasion of the TPDs between the Port Network Authority of the Ionian Sea and the “Acclavio” municipal library of Taranto.

Likewise, many visitors approached and did many sports at the “sport village” set up by Decathlon, while for the youngest there were many games and entertainment offering moments of joy and peace for families, thanks to the entertainment of Circo Laboratorio Nomade and the presence of PugliaBrick, an association of LEGO enthusiasts and collectors from all over Puglia.

Citizens also showed their appreciation for the entertainment organised as part of the Taranto Port Days on the “Kinetic” stage, provided by Ecotaras, crowding the port during both the “Pink Floyd's Legend” concert with the DNA Pink Floyd Tribute Band and the ICO Magna Grecia Orchestra conducted by Roberto Molinelli, and the now traditional dawn concert, which this year featured the popular singer-songwriter Diodato. “Diodato's dawn” was that of Sunday morning, 8 October, when a throng of people reached the Taranto Port's quay no. 1 to accompany, on the notes of the Taranto singer-songwriter's music, the rising of the sun, marking a moment that will remain in the history of the Taranto Port Days.

The same “stage” hosted the final of the “Rock Port 2023” music contest organised by Afo6 - which saw the young band coming from Massafra, “The Hellcat” getting on the top step of the podium, as well as the “Falanto Awards” ceremony, an award set up by the Port Network Authority of the Ionian Sea - Port of Taranto to give visibility to personalities and companies that have distinguished themselves for their activities in favour of the territory and the community of Taranto: this year, during the kermesse hosted by Mauro Pulpito and entertained by violinist Francesco Greco and comedian Vincenzo De Lucia, awards were given to “Costa Crociere”, Admiral Aurelio De Carolis, Commander in Chief of the Italian Fleet, “AIVP Association Villes et Ports”, the NATO Support and Procurement Agency Southern Operational Centre, and Mr. Massimo Gambino, Police commissioner of Taranto.

In this edition of TPDs, the relationship with schools was strengthened, thanks to initiatives dedicated to pupils and students, including the well-attended award ceremony of the Open Call For Artists “Taranto: La Mia Città Porto” (Taranto: My Port City) which, in the presence of more than five hundred students, teachers and head teachers, awarded prizes: for the primary school, the "Porto aperto ai sogni" group composed of students from the 5^th classes of the I.C. Sciascia of Taranto; for the secondary school, the group of students from the 3^rd class “Martellottini”, of the I.C. Martellotta of Taranto; for the secondary school, the “Team Overwater” group of students from the 5^th class, H, of Liceo Scientifico Battaglini of Taranto. The jury also decided to award an “out of competition” prize for the originality and creativity expressed, including through the use of the local dialect and traditional music, to the work produced by the group called “Aurighi” from the 4^th class of the Higher Secondary School A. Righi of Taranto. Further initiatives dedicated to schools and students include the conference “Blue Skills: Pathways and soft skills”, whose work was divided into two sessions: “Young people and sea culture: the importance of value generation for the Ionian community”, and “Building sustainability: from the Taranto Dolphin Sanctuary to the juvenile justice circuit. Opportunity sites for young people in Taranto”, with a forum dedicated precisely to teachers and students from schools.

The main topic of this 2023 edition of the Taranto Port Days, in fact, was dedicated to the professions and “skills” of ports and the sea, which, in line also with the UN sustainable development goals, was a tribute to all those who live and work in the port area every day.

The two exhibitions devised for TPDs 2023 by Larry Agency, a branding agency, are dedicated to them: the photographic exhibition curated by Toast Studio “Port Tales: stories, trades and people of the sea”, whose images were displayed suspended high above Via D'Aquino, with which, for the first time, the Taranto Port Days “went out” of the port to present the men and women of the port community in the very heart of the city centre.

The thousands of visitors who came to the port, on the other hand, had the opportunity to experience the immersive exhibition “Visioni Liquide”, set up ad hoc for the Taranto Port Days, which represented an imaginative journey to discover the port's crafts: a full immersion with Cindy Pedone's artistic illustrations and Stefania Ressa's fairy-tale texts, while listening, through headphones, to the “sounds” of the port recorded by Alberto Dati.

The conferences and in-depth discussions of this 2023 edition of the Taranto Port Days were also dedicated to the main topic, in whose panels moderators and speakers were equally divided between the two genders, in line with the initiative “No Women No Panel - Senza donne non se ne parla” (No Women No Panel - That’s not going to happen without women) promoted by the national Port Network Authority of the Ionian Sea and Assoporti as a collaborative strategy aimed at promoting balanced and plural participation in communication events.

Entirely dedicated to the female universe, on the other hand, was the conference “BET WE CAN! Circle of women who love the sea”, with speeches and stories by women working in the port and over the sea.
In the conference “Mediterranean Dialogue: Cooperation Comes from the Sea”, the main topic analysed maritime traffic as an element capable of creating relationships and synergies between Mediterranean ports.

Other conferences dedicated to the main topics and organised as part of the Taranto Port Days were “Shipbuilding and yachting: opportunities for the Port of Taranto and its production fabric” by Confindustria Taranto, “Becoming port professionals. Operators of the Port of Taranto tell their stories” by Optima Confcommercio, and “Strategic management of human resources for value creation” by the Taranto Propeller Club.

Finally, the TPDs 2023 hosted the closing event of the cross-border project “BioTourS” - an acronym for BIOdiversity and TOURism Strategy to protect cetaceans - whose activities covered five coastal cities: besides Taranto, where the lead partner Jonian Dolphin Conservation is based, Bari and Termoli in Italy, Cattaro in Montenegro and Valona in Albania, whose representatives met during the Taranto Port Days to share the results of this important project implemented within the Interreg IPA CBC Italy-Albania-Montenegro programme, co-financed by the European Union and managed by the Apulia Region with the participation of Molise, Albania and Montenegro.

The Taranto Port Days were promoted by the Port Network Authority of the Ionian Sea- Port of Taranto (AdSPMI), which, in the organisation of this fifth edition, was supported by the Jonian Dolphin Conservation (JDC); the event was sponsored by the Municipality of Taranto and was part of the Italian Port Days promoted at national level by Assoporti.

The Taranto Port Days 2023 event was supported by SIR - Servizi Industriali, SJS Engineering and YILPORT - San Cataldo Container Terminal; the organisation would like to thank Rimorchiatori Napoletani srl, Fondazione Taranto25, Studio Gaudio Recording and Strumentimusicali.net; Decathlon and Ecotaras are technical partners of the event.

To relive the three days of the Taranto Port Days event:

• Aftermovie Taranto Port Days 2023: https://youtu.be/gKBRVjzxqSQ
• Dawn Concert by DIODATO – https://youtu.be/Cakj2m4b_kk
• Taranto Port Days 2023 – DAY 1: https://youtu.be/SnjkhJnOt5E 
• Taranto Port Days 2023 – DAY 2: https://youtu.be/CxfUfU_eWjI 
• Taranto Port Days 2023 – DAY 3: https://youtu.be/ElJhy2eNQrM