Deep Vote

Taranto, Italy, where pole dancers aren't Polish

Two female Italian porn stars are running for the Office of Mayor in Taranto, Italy.

Amandha Fox and Luana Borgia are both vying to become the civic leader in Taranto, Italy.

And they are going for a political bust-up of a different kind.

The two candidates' backers are organising a pole-dancing night next month where local voters can see what the big election issues are.

Agent Mimmo Pavese said: "We want to be fair so we would like to invite any other candidate to come along and dance too."

Amandha said: "I want voters to see the real me."

And they may get to see as much of her as they want.

Taranto is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base.

If the Italian Navy squids can vote in local elections, one of these gals is  definitely in.

It is the third-largest continental city of Southern Italy: according to 2010 estimates, it has a population of about 190,000.

Taranto is an important commercial and military port. It has well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, some shipyards for building warships, and food-processing factories.

If this was a little village or something on that order we'd probably never hear about it. But this is a good size city. I guess they needed some free advertising for their respective "dance" clubs.

Taranto was originally founded as a Spartan colony in 706 BC. It is a beautiful place only sixty miles from where my wife's grandparents were born.

Something interesting...

Taranto is also the origin of the common name of the Tarantula spider family, Theraphosidae, even though strictly speaking there are no members of Theraphosidae in the area. In ancient times, residents of the town of Taranto, upon being bitten by the large local Wolf Spider, Lycosa tarentula, would promptly do a long vigorous dance like a Jig. This was done in order to sweat the venom out of their pores, even though the spider's venom was not fatal to humans. The frenetic dance became known as the Tarantella.