The bell tower of Santa Maria Maggiore is the tallest tower in the city, clearly visible even from kilometers away if you look at Vasto from the south. The bell tower has a quadrangular section and is divided into three sections which refer to different moments of construction. The base of the bell tower of…
The Portone Panzotto is certainly one of the oldest and most characteristic places in Vasto. The alley which, from the center of the medieval district of Santa Maria, passing under some private houses, emerges at the beginning of the Loggia Amblingh. It is unclear where its name comes from. The historian Luigi Marchesani, in the…
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…
The square next to the apse of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, from which a spectacular staircase leads down to the door of Santa Maria, today known as “Porta Catena”, is called Piazza del Tomolo. The name comes from an ancient commercial measurement, corresponding to the amount of grain needed to sow a tomolo…
One of the most beautiful places in Vasto is its Municipal Garden, known as Villa Comunale. For over a century, this space has been a beloved retreat where nature, history, and culture blend seamlessly, serving as the go-to spot for relaxation and leisure for locals of all ages. The Municipal Garden was originally designed as…
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…
The “Loggia Amblingh” is the most beautiful panoramic walk in Vasto, between Piazza Marconi and the perimeter wall of the gardens of Palazzo d’Avalos. The route was created at the beginning of the twentieth century when the collapse of Gabriele Rossetti’s birthplace, built on the old walls, had made the city government aware of the…
Nestled just off the beaten path, this small and quiet square is a hidden gem in the rich tapestry of Vasto’s history. Piazza Caprioli owes its name to the renowned jurist Virgilio Caprioli, born in 1548 in the family home at the corner of Via Barbarotta. Caprioli’s legacy endures, not only for his historical studies but…
Gabriele Rossetti’s prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was tied more to his political significance than to the actual readership of his works. Exiled in London, where he died in 1854, Rossetti had fled to escape a death sentence imposed by Ferdinand of Bourbon after the uprisings of 1821. His legacy became…