Martina Franca is a town and comune in the province of Taranto, Puglia, Italy. It is located at around 40°42′0″N, 17°19′60″E. Since 1975, the town has hosted the annual summer opera festival of opera, Festival della Valle d'Itria. The town has a particularly beautiful 'old city' surrounded by stone walls with prominent Baroque gates leading to piazzas and winding, tiny streets. The Piazza di Roma is the largest open space in the old city, with an unusual small greenspace in the center of a largely triangular plaza. At the 2001 census the comune had a population of 48,756 inhabitants and a land area of 295.49 km² (114.09 sq mi). It is one of the larger comuni in geographical area, ranking 39th out of 8,101.