Vasto

Vasto
Comune
Città del Vasto
Lighthouse of Punta Penna, the second tallest in Italy and seventh tallest in the world.
Coat of arms
Vasto Location of Vasto in Italy
Coordinates: 42°06′42″N 14°42′30″E / 42.1118°N 14.7082°E / 42.1118; 14.7082Coordinates: 42°06′42″N 14°42′30″E / 42.1118°N 14.7082°E / 42.1118; 14.7082
Country	Italy
Region	Abruzzo
Province / Metropolitan city	Chieti (CH)
Government
• Mayor	Francesco Menna (Partito Democratico)
Area
• Total	70.65 km2 (27.28 sq mi)
Elevation	138 m (453 ft)
Population (1 January 2016)
• Total	41,087
• Density	580/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Vastesi
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	66054
Dialing code	0873
Patron saint	Saint Michael
Saint day	September 29
Website	Official website

The Città del Vasto or Vasto (from the Greek Ἱστόνιον, Latin Histonium) is a town and comune on the Adriatic coast of the Province of Chieti in southern Abruzzo, Italy. It was also called in the Middle Ages as Guastaymonis or Vasto d'Aimone and also Waste d'Aimone. Renamed Istonio under the Fascist Rule, it took the current name of Vasto in 1944. In the local dialect it is called Lu Uasht, that is Il Vasto.

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, located on the Adriatic coast, about 9 kilometres (6 mi) 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 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 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 in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. 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 Lombards, the Franks, and the Arabs.

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 Porto di Vasto () 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.