History

The presence of man on the whole territory of Vieste dates back to the Palaeolithic age.

The mild climate, the presence of drinking water sources, the soil full of orchards, the wild and migratory game and many species of  fishes settled along the coast, represented, since the ancient times, an ideal habitat for the human beings.

Vieste was a Greek colony and a Roman municipality: historians identify it as the old Apeneste, which can be translated as “isolated refuge”. The Greeks were spending long winters here, being totally isolated and away from their families and land.

Tradition links Vieste to the cities of Uriah and Merino. The latter was destroyed around the X century.

During the medieval age, Vieste was over and over disputed among the Byzantines, Normans, Lombards, Venetians and Arabs. Because of its strategic position, it was repeatedly attacked by the Saracens in 1480, 1554, 1674, and 1678.

Da ricordare è la terribile invasione del 1554 ad opera del pirata Dragut, during which about 5000 inhabitants of Vieste died, decapitated nearby the cathedral on a rock called, since then, Chianca amara (bitter stone).

Another important historic step for the town of Vieste is the Unification of Italy during the Risorgimento; actually, in these years secret societies cooperating against the Bourbons came to life. These, feeling increasingly threatened by the people devoted to the Unification of Italy, began to persecute, kill and condemn to prison the inhabitants of Vieste, who were active supporters of King Vittorio Emanuele.

On 27th  July 1861, there was a bloody clash between a shipment of supporters of the Bourbons and supporters of the Unification. Many died during these violent clashes.