Palazzo d’Avalos – Musei civici, Vasto

The palace dominates from above, more than one hundred meters high, the coastal part of Vasto, like a monolith in squared light stone. Located behind the Cathedral and at the border between the two zones of the old city, the Roman-founded one and the one that grew during the Middle Ages, the palace was founded by the leader and lord of Vasto, Giacomo Caldora, perhaps in the 1420s. Little remains of the original appearance, except for the structural layout with the large central courtyard, and some traces in the external wall fabric, two of which are the bifora window and the remains of the Durazzo-style portal, which testify to the elegance of the architectural and decorative apparatus. After the lordship passed to the Guevara family, who perhaps completed the construction, especially in the part facing the sea, in 1496 the domain came into the hands of the D’Avalos, who made it, for three centuries, besides a place of residence, the seat of the city magistrates. The most severe event was the Turkish invasion of 1566, which, taking advantage of the absence of Marquis Francesco Ferdinando, residing in Palermo after his appointment as Viceroy of Sicily, sacked Vasto and damaged the palace. His wife, Isabella Gonzaga, daughter of the Duke of Mantua, after her husband’s death, starting from 1573, began the consolidation and reconstruction works, which were not completed before the beginning of the following century. The golden century of the palace was, however, the eighteenth century: the new lords from the Lante della Rovere family enriched the apartments and established a small but lively court there. With the French invasion, the residence began its decline and during the nineteenth century several rooms were demolished or adapted for various uses. From the 1970s onwards, Palazzo D’Avalos started a gradual recovery process. Today it houses the city’s art and archaeology collections. The art gallery is located in the eastern and southern wings of the first floor of the palace and hosts works by Donnini, Moccioli, Michetti, Brill, and Palizzi.

The archaeological collection, divided into five rooms, includes artifacts from the Iron Age to the Early Middle Ages that testify to the development of the Frentan area and the city of Histonium (ancient Vasto).

In the first room are displayed artifacts from the 10th century to the 1st century BC: funerary equipment from the necropolises of the Tratturo and Villalfonsina, votive terracotta from the sanctuaries of Villalfonsina and Punta Penna, a collection of bronzes, and numismatics.

The second room is dedicated to the development of the city of Histonium in the early imperial age (1st century BC): portraits of the Julio-Claudian gens, sarcophagi, and amphorae are exhibited.

The third room concerns the expansion of Histonium during the full imperial age (1st-2nd century AD): artifacts from the amphitheater, aqueducts, cisterns, and a mosaic thermal complex are preserved; lamps, stamped bricks, and a finely crafted bust of a woman are also displayed.

In the fourth room are funerary equipment from the most important city necropolises: the area of Largo barbacane, the town hall palace, the Caldoresco Castle.

In the last room are attestations from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: inscriptions, coins, and a ciborium from a 7th-century church in Vasto.