There is something unique about the Cathedral of Vasto—a blend of modesty and grandeur that only its history can explain.
Founded in 1262 by Count Rolando Palatino, the church was originally dedicated to Santa Margherita. In the 14th century, Charles II of Anjou, King of Naples, granted it to the Augustinian Order, whose monastery stood beside it, and the church was rededicated to Sant’Agostino. The monastery was already active at the time of the church’s foundation, as records show that Blessed Angelo of Furci—who later became Prior of the Augustinians in the Neapolitan province and is now the patron saint of his hometown in the Vastese mountains—was ordained there in 1266.
The monastery’s cloister was located to the left of the church, in what is now Largo del Fanciullo. Behind the monastery, the monks likely maintained gardens and service buildings. In 1427, on these very grounds, Giacomo Caldora, Lord of Vasto, began constructing his magnificent palace, which would later become the residence of the d’Avalos marquises.
Positioned between the two fortified medieval settlements of Guasto d’Aymone and Castel Gisone, the church became the city’s focal point as Caldora expanded Vasto’s defensive walls. Behind it stood the lord’s palace, accessible from the coast through Porta Palazzo. In front of the church lay Caldoresco Castle and Porta Castello, the gateway connecting the city to the surrounding countryside.
Though it remained under monastic control until the Augustinian Order was suppressed by Napoleon’s edicts in the early 19th century, the Church of Saint Augustine always held a vital role in the local community.
After being set ablaze by the Turks during the 1566 raid, it was restored in 1568. In 1576, Alfonso Caprioli, a member of a prominent family of Vastese jurists and scholars, founded the Confraternity of Charity and Death, which operated in the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows. The confraternity later relocated to the Church of Saint Francis of Paola, known today as the Church of the Addolorata.
The church’s bell tower was completed in phases, reaching its current form in 1730 with the addition of a clock that had previously been housed in the town hall at Piazza del Pesce (now Piazza Caprioli). In the 18th century, the Augustinian monastery also boasted a well-stocked library, donated by the noblewoman Virginia Magnacervo.
Following the political upheaval surrounding the proclamation of the Vastese Republic in 1799, the monastery was converted into a military barracks. A plaque on the church’s façade, to the left of the portal, commemorates the honorary citizenship granted to General Charles Antoine Manhès on April 10, 1810.
In 1808, Joseph Bonaparte—Napoleon’s brother and King of Naples—declared the church an “Insignis Collegiate”, granting its clergy authority over religious affairs within both the church and the wider community. This new college replaced those of Santa Maria Maggiore and San Pietro, whose titles had been revoked by the king due to ongoing conflicts between the two religious communities. To honor their new patron, the church’s canons rededicated it to San Giuseppe. Bonaparte himself commissioned a wooden sculpture of San Giuseppe, now placed in the apse behind the main altar.
For nearly a century, the Church of San Giuseppe remained Vasto’s only parish. In 1853, Pope Pius IX granted it the title of Cathedral. Renovations, led by Francesco Benedetti, were completed in 1890, and the Chapel of the Sacred Heart was added next to the presbytery in 1909.
During the Fascist period, new decorative elements were introduced, including the rose window, installed in 1928 at the expense of the Genova-Rulli family. In 1986, the church was elevated to the rank of co-cathedral of the Diocese of Chieti-Vasto. More recently, the church’s organ was restored and is now used for both religious services and the summer music festival that enlivens Vasto’s historic center.
