Vasto is a town of about 40,000 people on the Abruzzo coast, set on a hill roughly 140 metres above the Adriatic with its beaches and its railway down in the flat below. It is the kind of Italian town that foreign visitors drive past on the way to Puglia: a compact historic centre on a ridge, a palace with gardens looking out to sea, and below it one of the strangest and most photogenic stretches of coast in the country, where wooden fishing machines stand out in the water on stilts.
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What Is Here
THE TRABOCCHI ARE THE REASON THIS COAST HAS A NAME, AND THEY WERE BUILT BY PEOPLE WHO DID NOT WANT TO GO TO SEA. A trabocco is a timber platform on stilts reaching out from the rocks, with long arms and a net that is winched down into the water, and the first image is one of them. They were built by farmers rather than fishermen, so that a family could take fish without owning a boat or risking the Adriatic, and they are maintained now partly as heritage and partly because a number of them have become restaurants where you eat on the platform over the water. The stretch is marketed as the Costa dei Trabocchi and it runs north from Vasto along the province.
A LANDSLIDE TOOK PART OF THE OLD TOWN DOWN THE HILL IN 1956, AND YOU CAN SEE WHERE. The eastern flank of the historic centre slid, taking buildings and the church of San Pietro with it. THE PORTAL OF SAN PIETRO IS STILL STANDING, alone, with sky behind it where the nave used to be, and it has been left as a monument rather than rebuilt or cleared. It is the most affecting thing in the town and it also explains the shape of the place: the dramatic open terrace at the seaward edge exists because what was there is at the bottom of the slope.
THE LOGGIA AMBLINGH IS THAT TERRACE AND IT IS ONE OF THE GREAT VIEWS IN ABRUZZO. A walkway along the old town's seaward side, named after a Flemish family who lived here, with the whole gulf below and the Maiella mountains behind you on a clear day. It costs nothing and it is where the town goes in the evening.
PALAZZO D'AVALOS IS THE TOWN'S MUSEUM COMPLEX AND ITS HANGING GARDENS. The palace of the family who held Vasto for centuries, on the main square, now holding the archaeological collection, a picture gallery and a costume museum, with terraced gardens looking out over the Adriatic. A single ticket covers the set and it is the indoor hour here.
THE PUNTA PENNA LIGHTHOUSE IS THE SECOND TALLEST IN ITALY. The second image is the tower at night, standing above the port a few kilometres north of the town, around seventy metres of it. Beside it is PUNTA ADERCI, a protected nature reserve with what is genuinely one of the few wild undeveloped beaches left on the Italian Adriatic, reached on foot or by bicycle rather than by driving onto it.
THE OLD TOWN AND THE BEACH ARE TWO DIFFERENT PLACES AND BOOKING THE WRONG ONE IS THE COMMON MISTAKE. Vasto Marina, down at sea level, is the beach resort strip with the hotels, the lidos and the summer nightlife; the historic centre on the hill is where the palace, the portal and the loggia are. They are connected by bus and a steep road, and the third image is the marina end. Decide which one you want to walk out of in the morning.
AND THE LOCAL DISH HAS A PROTOCOL. Brodetto alla vastese is a fish stew cooked in a terracotta pot with the fish added in a set order and not stirred with a spoon, on the grounds that stirring breaks the fish; the pot is shaken instead. It is specific to this town and it is the thing to order.
When to Go
June and September are the best months: hot but not brutal, the sea warm, the lidos open and the town not at capacity. September keeps the summer sea temperature with half the people.
July and August are hot, busy and expensive, into the mid thirties with high humidity on the coast, and this is when Italians themselves holiday here, so the marina is full and the prices follow.
May and early October are pleasant for the town, the reserve and the cycle path, with the sea cool and some beach services not yet running.
Winter is quiet and much of the marina closes. The old town stays open and lived-in, the museums run, and the Adriatic in January is grey and windy. Abruzzo's mountains get real snow an hour inland, which is a genuine winter option from here.
Getting There
By train on the Adriatic line to Vasto-San Salvo station, which is DOWN ON THE COAST AND NOT IN THE TOWN: about an hour from Pescara, four to five hours from Rome depending on the connection, and two and a half from Bologna. A local bus climbs from the station to the historic centre, and the walk up with luggage is not one to attempt casually.
By air into Abruzzo airport at Pescara, about an hour away, or Rome for long haul with a train or bus onward.
By car, the A14 motorway runs along this coast, which is the easy way and also the way to reach the trabocchi and Punta Aderci. Note Italian ZTL restrictions in the historic centre, which issue automatic fines months later.
THE VIA VERDE IS THE GOOD NEW WAY TO SEE THIS COAST. A cycle and walking path has been built along the former Adriatic railway line, running between the trabocchi with the sea on one side, and it has opened in sections over several years. Check which sections are currently open rather than trusting a map, because the project has been completed piece by piece.
The Vasto Packing List
Hot humid summers with little shade, a steep hill town, rocky coast and a sea that looks calmer than it is.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is better than cotton in Adriatic humidity for the reason people find counterintuitive: fine merino moves moisture away and keeps working when it is damp, where a cotton top holds the sweat against you all afternoon and then chills you in an air conditioned museum.
For the summer, a long sleeve sun hoodie and a wide brim sun hat are the right protection for the loggia, the gardens, the reserve and the cycle path, none of which has meaningful shade, and a insulated water bottle matters on a walk to Punta Aderci where there is nothing to buy; Italian towns have public drinking fountains, so a refillable bottle is genuinely practical here.
Walking shoes with grip for the old town, which is stepped and steep between the loggia and the squares, and for the rock around the trabocchi. A quick dry travel towel for the beach and the reserve.
A Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket for the shoulder months and for the wind, which comes off the Adriatic harder than the temperature suggests.
Not linked and worth packing: SOMETHING TO COVER YOUR SHOULDERS for the churches, which is expected rather than optional in Italy; BEACH FOOTWEAR, because much of this coast is pebble and rock rather than sand and the registry's only water-shoe entry is one we do not use, so that advice comes with no link; SUNGLASSES; CASH IN EUROS for the smaller trabocco restaurants and the beach lidos; AND A LIGHT LAYER for the evening on the loggia, which catches the wind.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Vasto
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Italy. Its guidance concentrates on petty theft in crowded tourist areas and on the ZTL, the limited traffic zones in historic centres that catch drivers out with automatic fines months after the trip. Many parts of Italy lie on a major seismic fault line and the FCDO notes that minor tremors and earthquakes happen regularly. Learn what to do before, during and after one. THAT MATTERS MORE HERE THAN IN MUCH OF ITALY, because Abruzzo is among the country's most seismically active regions and the 2009 earthquake at L'Aquila, inland from this coast, killed more than three hundred people. Nothing about that makes a visit unwise and it is worth knowing the basic drill rather than printing a reassurance. THE GROUND ITSELF IS THE LOCAL VERSION OF THE SAME STORY: this coast is prone to landslip, the 1956 slide took part of the old town down the hill, and cliff edges and unfenced drops along the coast path and the loggia are to be treated with respect rather than approached for a photograph. THE SEA IS THE EVERYDAY HAZARD. Italian beaches run a lifeguard and flag system at the lidos in season and much of this coast is unsupervised rock and pebble outside them, with currents that are stronger than the flat Adriatic surface suggests; swim where there is a lifeguard, and treat an unsupervised stretch as swimming at your own risk, which legally here it is. SUMMER HEAT reaches the mid thirties with humidity and the old town has little shade at midday. PETTY THEFT is what the FCDO concentrates on for Italy, and in a provincial Abruzzo town it is a minor consideration compared with Rome or Naples, needing no more than ordinary care at the beach and in a crowd. AND THE ZTL will fine a driver automatically, months later, for entering the historic centre.
US State Department travel advisory: the Italy advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: The Ospedale San Pio da Pietrelcina in Vasto has a pronto soccorso, the emergency department, serving the town and this part of the province, so an emergency is handled locally rather than at Pescara or Chieti. Italy is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as an Italian resident. That means the same ticket, the co-payment Italians make, rather than nothing, and it does not cover repatriation, so travel insurance sits on top of it. Italian public hospitals are good and the emergency department, the pronto soccorso, treats anyone who arrives. Pharmacies, farmacie, are marked with a green cross, are staffed by pharmacists who can advise and dispense for minor problems, and post a rota for nights and Sundays on the door. Tap water is drinkable across the country, including from the public fountains that are common in Italian towns.
Official health authority: the Ministero della Salute, the Italian health ministry. covers the national health service and the European health card arrangements
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Rome.
Official tourism authority: ENIT, the Italian national tourist board. covers Abruzzo, and the regional and municipal tourist offices publish the Palazzo d'Avalos hours, the Punta Aderci reserve access and which sections of the Via Verde cycle path are currently open
Takeaways
A landslide took part of the old town in 1956. The San Pietro portal still stands.
The trabocchi were built by farmers who did not want to go to sea.
The hill town and the beach are different places. Book the one you want.
Order the brodetto. It is specific to here and it is not stirred.
Solo women safety assessment: Vasto is an easy and unremarkable place to travel alone, which is the compliment it deserves: a working Abruzzo town with a summer resort attached, where the visitors are overwhelmingly Italian families and a woman on her own in a restaurant or on the loggia attracts no attention at all. The historic centre is small, walkable and busy in the evening passeggiata, there is no district to avoid, and the marina strip in August is the ordinary Italian beach-resort mix of families and late bars rather than anything that should change your plans. Three practical notes. THE STATION IS DOWN ON THE COAST AND THE TOWN IS ON A HILL, so arrange the bus or a taxi rather than planning to walk up with a bag. THE OLD TOWN AND THE MARINA ARE SEPARATE, which decides where you should stay rather than being a detail. AND ENGLISH IS THINNER HERE than in the major Italian cities, so a translation app earns its place. THE REAL RISKS ARE ENVIRONMENTAL: this is a seismically active region, the coast is landslip-prone with unfenced drops, the summer heat is serious and the Adriatic's currents are stronger than its flat surface implies, so swim at a lifeguarded lido rather than off an empty stretch of rock. 112 REACHES EVERYTHING across the European Union, free from any phone, and the town has its own hospital with an emergency department.
Reading On
Vasto sits in the middle of the Italian Adriatic coast, so the library's other posts on that sea are the natural next reads: north, the Ancona packing list covers the Marche port and ferry terminal and the Rimini packing list the Romagna resort coast beyond it. South into Puglia, the Vieste packing list covers the Gargano promontory that is the next great headland down this shore, with the Trani packing list for the cathedral on the water and the Polignano a Mare packing list for the town on the cliffs. Inland and west, the Rome packing list covers the capital most visitors arrive through, and the Matera packing list the cave city in Basilicata. For the country as a whole, the Italy packing list and the Italy travel guide for women carry the regions, the trains and the seasons in full. For why wool beats cotton in Adriatic humidity, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection. Across the peninsula on the Tyrrhenian side, the Anzio packing list covers the port an hour south of Rome where Nero was born and the Allies landed in 1944.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
