Ipogeo - Frantoio

Cut into the rock beside Via Cava in Taranto's old town, the Ipogeo Frantoio preserves the equipment of an underground olive mill. A notarial deed of 1084 records a trappeto in this part of the city, while millstones and stone settling vats remain in the chamber.

Why it matters

The hypogeum shows that olive oil was processed within the medieval city, not only in the surrounding countryside. Its early documentary reference makes it one of the oldest hypogean oil mills recorded in Puglia. The chamber also illustrates a wider system of underground spaces within Taranto's old island, used for production and storage.

What to notice

The working sequence is visible in the rock: millstones used to crush olives and a series of carved basins where liquid could settle and separate. The city portal describes the site as a combination of space cut into living rock and built features such as vats and working floors. Along Via Cava, entrances to other chambers punctuate the walls of a street whose course follows an ancient natural depression.

Context and history

The mill belongs to Via Cava's wider hypogean network, where underground rooms served as oil mills, cellars and granaries. Their protected setting and relatively stable temperature made them useful for storing agricultural products. A notarial deed from 1084 records a trappeto in the area. The municipality has included the Frantoio in a restoration programme for the Via Cava hypogea, intended to create an underground cultural district.