The church of San Michele Arcangelo is the sanctuary of Vasto's patron saint. It stands on via della Rimembranza, beside the public gardens, above the viewpoint on the promontory that looks over the southern part of the Vasto coast. A small chapel had existed since 1675, built out of devotion after the town had been spared by a plague. Construction of the present church began on 14 September 1827, after the people of Vasto had asked Pope Leo XII to have Saint Michael as their patron: according to tradition, between 1817 and 1818 the archangel, whose statue stood in the church of San Giuseppe, had saved the town from an epidemic.
What to see
It is a small Neoclassical church on a central plan, with a gabled façade. Above the lintel of the entrance a marble plaque records the restoration and enlargement of 1852.
The town's devotion was renewed with the cholera of the eighteen-thirties, when, according to tradition, there were no deaths in Vasto.
Visiting
The feast of Saint Michael is Vasto's patronal festival, and the sanctuary is one of its settings. Opening and service times should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
The church is said to lie about halfway along the so-called «line of Saint Michael», the ideal line running from Skellig Michael, in Ireland, to Mount Carmel, in Israel, which in Italy touches the Sacra di San Michele in Piedmont and Monte Sant'Angelo in Puglia.
