Major NATO maneuvers on Taranto, Apulia. The Navy's most important base in the southern Mediterranean consolidates its strategic role within the Atlantic Alliance with the activation, which is still being worked on, of NATO's Multinational Maritime Command for the South. Confirming the news was Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Enrico Credendino speaking in Taranto at the handover ceremony at the top of the Interregional Maritime Command South.

At the head of the organization of the new NATO Multinational Maritime Command for the South will be an Italian rear admiral. The Command will be in charge - precisely - of NATO's southern flank, thus predominantly the Mediterranean region, and will achieve initial operational capability within the next year according to forecasts.

Under Italian coordination, staffs and naval units of the other member countries of the Alliance may operate from time to time. The command's home base is Taranto.

The NATO Command for the South will operate in synergy with existing commands in Taranto, including Comitmarfor, which is the Italian Maritime Forces Command. Dependent on the latter are aeronaval and amphibious forces capable of intervening, with extreme speed, to resolve crises requiring intervention from the sea. Certified by NATO as a Maritime Rapid Response Capability Command, it readily performs the tasks of peacekeeping or peace enforcement, humanitarian aid and collective defense. It is currently headed by Taranto Rear Admiral Vincenzo Montanaro, who also commands the Second Naval Division also based in Taranto.