Vasto : Italy
Only superficially shaken by the revolutionary events of 1799 (one can speak of a short-lived Republic of Vasto which, however, was immediately overturned by the sanfedista or loyalists), the city followed the nation’s historical developments throughout the Restoration to the Unity of Italy when a liberal elite controlled and governed the coastal town on the Adriatic.
In the age of Giolitti, Vasto changed its features. Governed locally by the mayor Luigi Nasci and represented on a national level by Francesco Ciccarone, the historical centre was redrawn (esp. Corso de Parma) and the foundations were set for the alterations occurring, incisively, during 1920s and 1930s. In fact, it was during the Fascist regime that the present forms of both Piazza Rossetti and Corso Italia were created.
Despite the devastating landslide, 1956, that dragged a significant part of the oriental ridge – now Via Adriatica – into the gorge below, the years following WWII were a time of significant industrial, urban and socio-cultural development. Furthermore, the city discovered its tourist vocation thanks to the coasts progressive development and the salvaging and restoration of important archaeological sites of the Roman era (thermal baths, their remarkable mosaics, the cisterns and remains of the amphitheatre).
