Grottaglie (Italian: [ɡrotˈtaʎʎe]; Salentino: li Vurtàgghie; Latin: Criptalium) is a town and comune (municipality) in the province of Taranto, Apulia, in southern Italy.

The ancestral part of the town was one of the citadels in the area, referred to in Medieval documents as Casale Cryptalerum, founded by locals sheltering in the caves of the ravines due to coastal Saracen raids.

In the 14th century the ecclesiastic administration provided the fief with fortifications, walls, a fortress known as the Archbishop's Castle (Italian: Castello Episcopio) as well as with the Chiesa Matrice ("Mother church").

The numerous ceramic finds, tracing back to the Classical Age and kept in the National Museum of "Magna Grecia" in Taranto, reveal the antique roots of this handicrafts production which was privileged by the presence of considerable amounts of clay in the surrounding territory.

More recently, records dating back to the 18th century report at the time 42 companies in Grottaglie operating in the ceramics-sector with a total of 5,000 employees.