Rossetti's House

The home of the poet and patriot Gabriele Rossetti rises on a first plan dating back to the 15th century and it was declared a national monument in 1924. After the war invasion it became the historical seat of the Municipal Library. Born in Vasto in 1783, Gabriele Rossetti made his debut as a passionate poet, imbued with political fervor and civil commitments, so as to earn for himself the epithet of the “Tyrtaeus of Italy”. Later he dedicated himself to sacred poetry and was the author of some literary critic works on Dante and the Divine Comedy from an anti-clerical standpoint. Because of his support to the rebels of the liberal riots in 1820, he was forced into exile. Progenitor of a glorious family, Rossetti handed over the history of art and English literature to all of his four children: Maria Francesca, poetess and essayist, William Michael, who translated Dante’s Inferno into English, Dante Gabriel, founder of the literary and artistic movement of the Pre-Raphaelites, and Christina, among the greatest poetesses of the United Kingdom.
The first library reserve that the Library acquired were about 200 volumes of Federico Bucci and of the heirs of the former mayor, Pietro Muzii. The biggest donation was from the Monastery of Sant’Onofrio in 1899, of about 800 volumes. In 1883 William Michael Rossetti gave the library the so-called “Rossetti’s Reserve”, including works and letters. Moreover, Rossetti’s house conserves the “Spataro legacy”, made up of 68 editions of the 1700s.