VASTO (anc. Histonium)  , a fortified town of the Abruzzi, Italy, in the province of Chieti, situated high on an olive-clad slope, about a mile from the Adriatic, 32 M. direct S.E: by E. of Chieti and 131 M. by rail from Ancona, 525 ft. above sea-level . Pop . (1901), 10,090 (town); 15,542 (commune) . It is surrounded by medieval walls, and commands fine views extending to the Tremiti Islands and Monte Gargano . The churches of S . Pietro and S . Giuseppe have Gothic facades . There is a medieval castle . The municipal buildings contain a collection of Roman antiquities and inscriptions . There are manufactures of earthenware, woollen cloth and silk; but the inhabitants are chiefly employed in the culture of the olive and in fishing . The ancient Histonium was a town of the Frentani, and an Oscan inscription of the period of its independence speaks of censors there, probably officers of the whole community of the Frentani (see R . S .

Conway, Italian Dialects, i . 208, • Cam-bridge, 1897) . Though hardly mentioned in history, it was a flourishing municipal town under the Roman Empire, as is shown by the numerous inscriptions found there . One of these mentions its Capitolium or temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva . It lay on the line of the ancient road which prolonged the Via Flaminia to the S.E., and reached the coast here after having passed through Anxanum' (Lanciano) . It was, and still is, subject to severe earthquakes . (T .