Born in Vasto in 1860, to a wealthy family of merchants, Luigi Anelli demonstrated his witty streak very early on, founding his first newspaper at just 18 years old. At 25, he published the first edition of his “Ricordi di Storia Vastese” in Naples. Having returned to his hometown, at the age of 35 he…
Luigi Marchesani was born in Vasto in 1802. Son of a notary, he graduated in medicine in Naples, where he practiced until 1837, distinguishing himself as a teacher and researcher, and publishing numerous essays. In 1842, he founded the Vasto hospital, where he worked as surgeon and director. Always passionate about homeland history, in 1841…
The Archaeological Museum is the oldest in Abruzzo, founded in 1849 as the Municipal Archaeological Cabinet of Vasto, by the local doctor and historian, Luigi Marchesani. His intent was to collect the finds made available by some historic families of the city, together with those that he himself collected and catalogued, on the occasion of…
The Roman Amphitheater of Vasto, located in the heart of the city under Piazza Rossetti, represents one of the most important archaeological remains in Abruzzo. Although it is not completely visible due to subsequent urban stratifications, its presence is still tangible, and tells a fascinating piece of Roman history. Dating back to the end of…
In via Anelli, from number 90 to the end of the road at the intersection with via Sant’Antonio, the wall at the base of the modest houses that overlook it is free of plaster and reveals a curious alternation of bricks and squared stones laid in a rhomboidal: a roman insula. It is a fragment…
The Roman Baths of Vasto are famous for two large mosaics discovered during excavation campaigns in 1974 and 1997. The first mosaic, known as the Marino Mosaic, measures approximately 38 square meters. It was initially unearthed in 1828 during work near the convent of San Francesco, then a royal sub-prefecture. At the time, it was…
At the southern limit of the Loggia Amblingh, where the walls of Vasto once ended, two large Roman cisterns are still visible, which today have been opened towards the promenade and transformed into a characteristic restaurant. Probably built in the first century AD, they were part of a group of six cisterns that guaranteed the…
The Roman baths of Vasto were built on the edge of the town of ancient Histonium in the second century AD, and were one of the main attractions of the Roman city for about three centuries. Damaged by the Sannio earthquake in 346 AD, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, they were progressively…
The current Via Adriatica presents itself as a spectacular balcony overlooking the sea. Beyond it, a steep slope that stops about fifty meters below, where today there is a sports centre, the “Mura delle Lame” park. The name of the site recalls that once, in place of the Via Adriatica, there were the city walls…