Vasto (
Abruzzese: '; grc, Ἱστόνιον, Histonion}, la, Histonium) is a ''
comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
'' on the
Adriatic coast of the
Province of Chieti
The province of Chieti ( it, provincia di Chieti; Abruzzese: ') is a province in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city Chieti, which has a population of 50,770 inhabitants. The province has a total population of 387,6 ...
, in southern
Abruzzo, Italy. During the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
it was called d''Guastaymonis'', '' Vasto d'Aimone'' or ''Waste d'Aimone''.
Fascist Italy called the city ''Istonio'', but it has been renamed Vasto in 1944.
History
Classical
According to tradition, the town was founded by
Diomedes, the Greek hero. The earliest archaeological relics date to 1300 BC. Histonium was one of the key towns of the
Frentani
The Frentani were an Italic tribe occupying the tract on the southeast coast of the Italian peninsula from the Apennines to the Adriatic, and from the frontiers of Apulia to those of the Marrucini. They were bounded on the west by the Samnites, wi ...
, located on the
Adriatic coast, about south of the promontory called
Punta Penna.
The city was noted by all the geographers among the towns of the Frentani and apparently under
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...
did not obtain the rank of a ''colonia'', but continued to bear the title of a ''municipium'', as we learn from some inscriptions.
Under the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
, the municipium of Histonium was a flourishing and opulent municipal town, and this is further attested by the existing remains, which include the vestiges of a theatre, baths, and other public edifices, besides numerous mosaics, statues, and columns of granite or marble.
Among the numerous inscriptions which have been found, one of the most curious records the fact of a young boy named Lucius Valerius Pudens having at thirteen years of age won the prize for Latin poetry in the contest held at
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in the temple of
Jupiter Capitolinus
The Capitoline Triad was a group of three deities who were worshipped in ancient Roman religion in an elaborate temple on Rome's Capitoline Hill (Latin ''Capitolium''). It comprised Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. The triad held a central place in t ...
. The name of Histonium is still found in the Itineraries of the fourth century and it probably never ceased to exist on its present site, though ravaged successively by the
Goths
The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...
, the
Lombards
The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.
The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the '' History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...
, the
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
, and the
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
.
![Vasto piazza Rossetti](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Vasto_piazza_Rossetti.jpg)
Histonium had no natural port, and it is not improbable that in the days of its prosperity it had a dependent port at the Punta Penna, where the current harbour that is the and the
lighthouse are located, where there is good anchorage, and where Roman remains have also been found, which have been regarded, but probably erroneously, as those of the settlement of
Buca
Buca (, ) is a district of İzmir Province, Turkey. It is one of the main urban districts of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality.
History
Buca was one of the preferred settlement areas of İzmir's community of Levantines. The great mansions they bu ...
.
Middle Ages
![Vasto 2011-08 by-RaBoe-018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Vasto_2011-08_by-RaBoe-018.jpg)
After the collapse of the
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...
, the Western half of the Empire became fully controlled by Germanic tribes until
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
's
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
re-conquest, which included the province of
Samnium
Samnium ( it, Sannio) is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were ''Safinim'' for the country (attested in one inscription and one coin legend) and ''Safineis'' for the The ...
, of which Histonium was a key town. However soon after Justinian's death, Histonium fell to the
Lombards
The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.
The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the '' History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...
becoming incorporated into the
Duchy of Benevento
The Duchy of Benevento (after 774, Principality of Benevento) was the southernmost Lombard duchy in the Italian Peninsula that was centred on Benevento, a city in Southern Italy. Lombard dukes ruled Benevento from 571 to 1077, when it was conq ...
and, later, succumbing to the
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
c774AD.
Normans
The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...
under
Robert Guiscard in turn captured the Duchy of Benevento in 1053. Around 1076, Histonium was renamed Guastaymonis, or the Waste of Aimone ( it, Il Guasto d'Aimone), following raids, hence its current name. From the 13th century it was part of the
Kingdom of Naples, which later merged into the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
In the 15th century the city's urban structure was transformed by the
condottiero Giacomo Caldora, who had become its lord. The Caldora family built new city walls still seen today, including the Torre Bassano tower in Piazza Rossetti, the Torre Diomede in Vico Storto del Passero, the Torre Diamante in Piazza Verdi and Porta Catena, and with Castello Caldoresco as its primary defensive outpost.
In 1566 the Turkish Ottoman naval forces, led by
Piyale Pasha
Piali Pasha, ( tr, Piyale Paşa; hu, Piali pasa) (c. 1515–1578) was an Ottoman Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pasha) between 1553 and 1567, and a Vizier (minister) after 1568. He is also known as Piale Pasha in English.
Early life
His exact place ...
, destroyed much of the city by fire, including the Castello Caldoresco, the Church of Santa Margherita and the
Palazzo d'Avalos (formerly a home of
Vittoria Colonna - close confidante of
Michelangelo - now the
Musei di Palazzo d'Avalos).
From Spanish rule until Italy's Unification
Under the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
rule of southern Italy, Vasto became fief of the Marquis
d'Avalos, and under the reign of Cesare Michelangelo (marquis from 1697 to 1729), Vasto reached its zenith. Only superficially shaken by revolutionary events in 1799 (a short-lived Republic of Vasto was immediately overthrown by the sanfedista, or loyalists), the city's history was reflected in the nation's throughout the Restoration to the Unity of Italy when a
liberal elite
Liberal elite, also referred to as the metropolitan elite or progressive elite, is a stereotype of politically liberal people whose education has traditionally opened the doors to affluence, wealth and power and who form a managerial elite. It is ...
governed.
The poet and scholar
Gabriele Rossetti
Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti (28 February 1783 – 24 April 1854) was an Italian nobleman, poet, constitutionalist, scholar, and founder of the secret society Carbonari.
Rossetti was born in Vasto in the Kingdom of Naples. He was Rom ...
was born in Vasto on 28 February 1783. Rossetti's published works include literary criticism, Romantic poetry such as his long poem ''Il Veggente in Solitudine'' of 1846, and his autobiography. Gabriele went into political exile in 1821, settling in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England.
He was the father of well-known
pre-Raphaelite
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...
painter
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...
and poet
Christina Rossetti
Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including " Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Bri ...
. Gabriele died on 24 April 1854 and is buried in London's
Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...
with his wife
Frances Polidori
Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori, ''later'' Rossetti, of London (27 April 1800 – 8 April 1886), was a scholar, daughter, wife, sister and mother of important writers and artists; she was the governess of her four children. She was also a model of ...
.
Modern
In the early 20th century, Vasto changed its architectural and urban features. The historical centre was redrawn and the foundations were set for drastic alterations during the 1920s and 1930s, with Mussolini decreeing a name change to Istonio in 1938, the official name until the liberation of the city from the
Allied Forces in 1944.
Despite a devastating landslide (1956) that dragged a significant part of the eastern ridge - now Via Adriatica - into the gorge below, the years following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
witnessed industrial, urban, and socio-cultural development. The city also discovered its tourist vocation: besides the progressive development of its beaches in Marina di Vasto, Roman-era thermal baths, mosaics, cisterns and remains of an
amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
were found and restored.
During the 1970s until the recent days, the town underwent a remarkable change and a fast growth, with several housing, road and other infrastructure projects built to accommodate the emigrating population from the inner areas of Southern Abruzzo, which have made it one of the most populous of the region.
Main sights
![Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore, Vasto 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Chiesa_di_Santa_Maria_Maggiore%2C_Vasto_2.JPG)
The old part of the town (''centro storico'') features a number of buildings and churches dating from the 12th-18th centuries, including:
*
Vasto Cathedral (''Cattedrale di San Giuseppe'')
*, the largest and oldest (mentioned in a document as early as 1195) church in the town, with a quite tall bell tower. Damaged by the Turks in 1566, and by a fire in 1645, it received a thorough restructuring in 1735 in which it got the current shape. It hosts one of alleged Jesus' crown of thorns (''Sacra Spina'').
*
Castello Caldoresco
*D'Avalos Palace
Palazzo D'Avalos and th
Musei Civici
Below the hill on which the town is located, the beach resort town of Marina di Vasto offers a large sandy beach and several hotels and other facilities.
![Vasto Marina, Vasto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Vasto_Marina%2C_Vasto.jpg)
Further north the coast becomes rocky and features interesting pebble and stone beaches and coves, as well as the typical ''trabocchi'', typical wooden fishing machines of the Southern Abruzzo coast.
Amongst the natural areas, also featuring a number of sandy and rocky beaches, is the protected natural area of the Riserva Naturale di Punta Aderci, whose beaches were voted in 2014 third of the top 20 beaches in Italy.
[Legambiente, 2014 http://www.legambiente.it/contenuti/comunicati/le-spiagge-piu-belle-dell-estate-2014-cala-degli-infreschi-camerota-e-la-piu-ap]
Twinnings
*
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
,
Australia, since 1989
Notable people from Vasto
*
Gabriele Rossetti
Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti (28 February 1783 – 24 April 1854) was an Italian nobleman, poet, constitutionalist, scholar, and founder of the secret society Carbonari.
Rossetti was born in Vasto in the Kingdom of Naples. He was Rom ...
, a scholar, and founder of the secret society
Carbonari
The Carbonari () was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay and Ru ...
.
*
Vittorio Coccia, football player
*
Luca Dirisio, singer
*
Andrea Iannone, motorcycle racer
*
Valerico Laccetti, painter
*
Filippo Palizzi
Filippo Palizzi (1818 – 1899) was an Italian painter.
Biography
Filippo Palizzi was born in Vasto (Chieti). He moved to Naples in 1837 and enrolled at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts, but withdrew after a few months to attend the private sch ...
, painter
*
Francesco Romani
Francesco Romani (Vasto, 24 September 1785 – Naples, 14 November 1852) was an Italian Physician, medical doctor.
Biography
Francesco Romani was born in Vasto, in 1785. After his first studies in maths, philosophy and literature in the near Chie ...
, doctor
*
Giuseppe Spataro
Giuseppe Spataro (12 June 1897 – 30 January 1979) was an Italian politician.
Biography
Spataro was born in Vasto, Italy to Anna and Alfonso Nasci, who were a high-class Italian family, in the urban center within the province Chieti.
After ...
, politician
See also
*
Vastese
Vastese (Vastese: or , meaning "the dialect of Vasto") is a Romance language spoken in the town of Vasto. of it and Italian. It is not spoken by any other town, even the nearby town of Cupello, which is only away.
History
Vastese's endonym ...
A Romance language from this town
*
Punta Penna Lighthouse
Punta Penna Lighthouse ( it, Faro di Punta Penna) is an active lighthouse in Vasto, Italy. At a height of it is the eighth tallest "traditional lighthouse" in the world, and the second tallest lighthouse in Italy after the Lantern of Genoa. It ...
References
External links
*
News and videos from Vasto Italy
{{authority control
Coastal towns in Abruzzo
Adriatic Sea