San Michele Arcangelo, Church building in Vasto, Italy.
San Michele Arcangelo is a church in Vasto featuring a white stone facade with neoclassical design elements and a prominent central bell tower above the main entrance. The interior contains multiple religious artworks, including paintings and sculptures dedicated to the patron saint.
Construction began on 14 September 1827, after the citizens of Vasto formally asked Pope Leo XII to name Saint Michael the Archangel patron of the city. The church was restored and enlarged in 1852, as a marble plaque above the entrance architrave records. The plague of 1817-1818, from which the city was held to be saved by the archangel's intercession, preceded the building.
The church is dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel, whom Vasto's citizens asked Pope Leo XII to name patron of the city; construction began on 14 September 1827. The feast of San Michele is Vasto's patronal festival, centred on the sanctuary of the Archangel. The church stands about halfway along the so-called Line of San Michele Arcangelo, which runs from Skellig Michael in Ireland to Mount Carmel in Israel.
The church stands on Via della Rimembranza, beside Vasto's municipal villa and behind Via San Michele, on the promontory above the southern Vastese coast. The marble plaque above the entrance architrave records the 1852 restoration and enlargement. The octagonal plan means the interior is seen in one sweep from the entrance.
The church stands about halfway along the so-called Line of San Michele Arcangelo, a straight alignment running from Skellig Michael in Ireland to Mount Carmel in Israel and passing through the Sacra di San Michele in Piedmont and Monte Sant'Angelo in Puglia.
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