"Here his wife Vesta died and Noah founded the city and gave it his wife’s name"

Given its geographical position, which favored fishing and maritime trade, and its climatic conditions, which favored agriculture and pastoralism there is no wonder that the first human settlements in the area of Vieste date back to the Neolithic. Settlements witnessed by the discovery of the necropolis and many other historical finds, including ancient villages of Vieste. But the most difficult point for historians is what concerns the origin of the city. A fabulous story tells that Noah finished the flood and the ark on Mount Ararat decided to spend the rest of his life on the coasts of the Gargano. Here his wife Vesta died and Noah founded the city and gave it his wife’s name.

To give us a more concrete help is a hint of Ptolemy of the second century. A.C. that identifies this area with the name of Apeneste. Formerly inhabited by the Greeks the name Apeneste means isolated-refuge. In fact, the Greeks, who spent long isolated winters here far from their families and their lands, considered this place as a temporary refuge. And it was precisely this nostalgia for the family that led the Greeks to cling very much to their goddess of the home hearth "Hestia". The cult of the goddess spread a lot among the local populations, and later also the Romans began to venerate it naming it Veste and calling this area Vesta, and hence the name Vieste.

But in recent years it has come to identify Vieste as the ancient Uriah. In fact, historians, who before placed this city in other countries of the Gargano, thanks to the discovery of some historical finds, including coins, and a large number of inscriptions found in a cave on the island of Santa Eufemia, which documents the cult for the Venus Sosandra, of whose cult to Uria Catullus speaks to us in the poem 36, today they identify in Vieste the ancient Uria. With this big question mark on the origins of Vieste the only certain thing that can be said of its antiquity, is that around it there were other human settlements, such as the city of Merino, devoted to agriculture and sheep farming, and that Vieste must have had some importance seen the discovery of one of the largest flint mines in Europe, and given its position on the sea that made it easy to control all along the Adriatic.

Precisely because of its position on the Gargano, Vieste in the Middle Ages was repeatedly contested by the Byzantines, Normans, Lombards, Venetians and Arabs, who exploited this position especially from a military point of view. As long as it was under Byzantine rule, Vieste was able to prosper thanks to the government of Constantinople that guaranteed the safety of maritime routes and trades. But the rise of the barbarians from the north, and the continuous raids of the Arabs from the south, turned this area into a theatre of military clashes to secure control of Vieste, since those who controlled Vieste could control all the goods traffic along the Adriatic, from both north and south.

Around the year 1000 Vieste was under Norman rule; under their rule the castle and the cathedral were built, which were seriously damaged following an incursion by the Venetians. They were rebuilt almost immediately by Frederick II of Swabia, who had this city very close to his heart, greatly strengthening the castle’s defences and making it an impregnable fortress. The story also tells that in 1002 the Doge of Venice landed in Bari, which was occupied by the Saracens, and that Pope Alexander III stayed there for a month before embarking to sign the peace with Frederick Barbarossa. There was also captured Celestine V who after giving up the papacy tried to escape to Illyria.

Other frequent and very unpleasant events were the invasions of pirates that caused serious damage to the city. Among these the most violent was the 1554 pirate Dragut. He took the strongest citizens captive, and on top of a stone now called Chianca Amara (Bitter Stone), he killed more than 5,000 old men, women and children. After the invasion of Dragut, to prevent these unpleasant visits, Vieste was equipped with coastal towers. They were these sturdy constructions of difficult access for the pirates, placed along the coast on the most protruding points, so that the one could see the other. In case of sightings, soldiers placed on the towers, communicated with visual signals to the other towers the presence of suspicious boats.

As for the Risorgimento, Vieste also contributed to the unification of Italy. A contribution stained with the blood of many citizens who on the one hand firmly believed in the unification of Italy, and on the other they remained faithful to the Bourbon kingdom. Secret societies were formed that conspired against the Bourbons, and to increase the enthusiasm of those who were members, there were the continuous news that the students and professionals brought from Naples. The Bourbons felt increasingly threatened by the fervent growth of those who believed in unity, and began to persecute, kill and condemn to hard prison the supporters of King Vittorio Emanuele. Piedmont, managing to obtain the annexation of Lombardy first, Tuscany and Emilia Romagna then, increased the discontent in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies against King Francis II.

Discontent that was fiercely suppressed by the Bourbon king. Victor Emmanuel, taking advantage of the situation, decided to free the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. A 1000-man expedition commanded by Garibaldi left Quarto on 5 May 1860, and entered Naples on 7 September, freeing it from the Bourbons. On 21 October, a vote was held to annex the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to Italy. It was as a result of these votes that a great deal of blood happened in Vieste and all the surrounding countries. These areas of Italy were very linked to the Bourbon kingdom, and from here arose many clashes with the troops of the Italian kingdom. In just two years, between 1861 and 1863, there were more than 400 Bourbons killed or killed during the clashes. Precisely in Vieste, on July 27, 1861, there was a bloody clash between an expedition of pro-bourbon and the citizens engaged in achieving the unity of Italy, which resulted in the death of many honest citizens.