Uria, the Lost City and Its Legacies
Talking about the origins of the name Vieste means entering a fascinating journey through myth, archaeology and linguistic transformations. According to some scholars, before becoming Vieste, this enchanted corner of Gargano was known by the name of Uria, a port city already mentioned by Catullus, Strabo, Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy. Too little is still known about Uria, but that little is enough to evoke powerful images: it was a flourishing center, with its own coinage, as evidenced by some coins bearing the Greek inscription YPIA. The city of Uria was closely linked to the marine cult and to the goddess Venus Sosandra. The votive epigraphs found in the cave on the islet of Vieste lighthouse they are among the most concrete testimonies of this possibility that Uria was precisely Vieste.
The cult of Aphrodite Sosandra in fact mainly on the Acropolis of Athens and in the ancient "Uria Garganica". It is possible that the frequent maritime and commercial contacts between the Gargano and ancient Greece have favored the adoption of a protective deity of sailors and fishermen.
According to some scholars, however, taking up the description of Pliny who tells us that the city of Uria was in front of the Tremiti Islands, Uria could have sunk into the waters near the Varano lake, forcing its inhabitants to migrate to new settlements such as Merinum, which in turn will be absorbed by the emerging Vieste.
From Vesta to Vieste: the goddess of the hearth in the heart of the name
One of the most suggestive hypotheses on the origin of the name Vieste derives from the cult of the goddess of the hearth, Vest (Hestia for the Greeks). According to this tradition, the Greeks who inhabited ancient Apeneste — the name given to the area by Ptolemy in the 2nd century BC — spent long isolated winters, far from their families, gathering around the cult of Hestia, the domestic deity par excellence. According to this theory, when the Romans overlapped with the Greeks, Hestia became Vesta, and the name of the place slowly began to transform into Vest, Your Message, up to today's Vieste.
Other versions still connect the name to Etruscan derivations (such as Praeneste o Tergeste) or even to biblical mythology: according to a legend, it was Noah who baptized it in honor of his wife Horses o Vest, buried on the rock of the lighthouse islet.
Evolution of the name: from Bestia to Vieste
The evolution of the name Vieste is also documented through its many historical transcriptions. From Bestia o Pestia, we move on to variants such as Hey!, Beast, besti, Beasts, until arriving, between the 16th and 18th centuries, at forms more similar to the current one: Dress, Vestae, News, Vieste, Your Message, and finally Vieste. This metamorphosis is the result of transcriptions made by historians, geographers or notaries who often simply transcribed the name as they heard it, without an official form.
In 1239 a chronicler of the time reports that 25 Venetian galleys sent by Pope Gregory IX against Frederick II, “they take and prostrate Beast and Beasts”, probably referring to Peschici and Vieste. According to some, the root “Bes” of the ancient name of both towns derives from the Slavic languages. The influence of these populations and of the Byzantine world on Puglia and Gargano was very strong.
Curiously, until the 20s, the form Your Message was still in use, demonstrating how much local languages and dialects have influenced the very identity of the city. Even toponyms such as the “Island of Sant'Eugenia” — so called for centuries on nautical charts — underwent changes: today it is known as “Island of Sant'Eufemia”, probably due to transcription errors.
A toponym that tells the story
In the study of place names, nothing is ever random. Toponyms tell of venerated divinities, settled peoples, landscapes and memories. The name Vieste, in this sense, is a compendium of the history of Gargano: from the pre-Roman Illyrian roots, through Greek and Latin influence, to the medieval, Norman and Spanish superimpositions.
It is not surprising that in a land so rich in historical stratifications, the name of the city itself is a small enigma, which only language, history and mythology can help to decipher. And this is precisely why Vieste continues to enchant: because it carries in its name the echo of centuries of humanity, spirituality and transformation.
Cover map: Giovanni Battista Pacichelli
