Piazza Rossetti is considered the heart of modern Vasto. Its spacious layout, grand buildings, medieval towers, and the castle in the background make it seem like a historical focal point. However, this area actually lies outside the old Caldora walls, and until a century ago, the “Spianata del Castello” was an open, unpaved space where the San Gaetano fair took place, primarily for livestock trading.
The square has an oval shape, with its major axis oriented north-south. To the north, it is enclosed by the neoclassical façade of Palazzo Palmieri, built in the early 19th century over the ruins of part of the Caldoresco Castle. To the south, the view opens onto Corso Italia, lined with elegant twin buildings from the 1920s that once housed Vasto’s growing educational institutions.
On the western side, Piazza Rossetti is bordered by Corso Garibaldi, a modern thoroughfare that, until the 1960s, was part of the Adriatic state highway connecting Trieste to Otranto via major towns. The buildings along this side partly encompass what was once the convent of the Paolotti monks, with only the Church of San Francesco da Paola—commonly known as the Church of the Addolorata—remaining. This church boasts a stunning 18th-century façade.
The eastern side of Piazza Rossetti is the most fascinating.
It consists of a continuous wall of buildings from different periods, forming a perfect semi-ellipse that ends to the south with a 20-meter-high tower. Rising behind these buildings is the bell tower of Santa Maria. Some shop windows still display remnants of ancient Roman walls, revealing that this structure was once Vasto’s amphitheater. In the 13th century, it was repurposed for the first city wall expansion, and in 1439, it was crowned with a defensive tower—now known as the Bassano Tower—which took its final form in the 18th century.
In the early 20th century, there was a desire to give the new center of Vasto a suitably monumental appearance. At the same time, the local population sought to honor Gabriele Rossetti as a symbol of the Risorgimento and national identity.
After multiple attempts to raise funds starting in the late 19th century, the city’s mayors, followed by the fascist-era leader Pietro Suriani, finally secured financing after World War I. The monument to Gabriele Rossetti was inaugurated in 1926, with Crown Prince Umberto of Savoy in attendance.
Today, Piazza Rossetti is beautifully maintained and rich in symbolic meaning.
At its center stands the monument to Gabriele Rossetti, encircled by an octagonal flower bed enclosed by an iron railing, featuring a gate adorned with Masonic symbols. The white stone pavement is decorated with geometric patterns, outlining an octagon and a four-pointed star.
The bronze monument, created by Neapolitan sculptor Filippo Cifariello, portrays an idealized Rossetti in late 19th-century attire, reading Dante’s Divine Comedy. An eagle, poised for flight, perches above him. The stone stele behind him bears medallions of his four children, most of whom gained fame in England as poets or painters. The structure, crafted from stone sourced from Gioia del Colle, also features a bas-relief of Dante on its reverse side.
Also dating back to 1926 is the large monumental fountain in the northwest flower bed, marking the endpoint of the Sinello aqueduct—an infrastructure project that significantly improved Vasto’s water supply. Originally consisting solely of a circular stone basin adorned with Savoy crests flanked by two large fasces, the fountain was modified in the 1970s with the addition of a central structure, creating an elegant water display.
