On low tide days it is clearly visible in the bay Marina Piccola the wreck of a boat. It is a vaporetto which ran aground in Vieste at the beginning of the 900s, years in which boats used to dock near the bay of Marina Piccola, protected by the islet on which the Lighthouse , especially on the north side, that of the "quay".
Following a sea storm, the vaporetto lost its anchorage and was dragged onto the sand, finally running aground.
After more than a century, only a few parts of the vaporetto remain corroded by rust and covered by sand and molluscs.
Over the years the wreck has become an integral part of the landscape, perhaps giving even more charm to a splendid panorama.
We report this testimony of Michele Delli Santi and the photo taken from the Facebook page "Le Bellezze del Gargano", which explain the history of the boat and the second life of its engine at a sawmill.
“Of this “steam” which often came to Vieste at that time, it came precisely to load tree trunks or even sawn boards which were “worked” in the sawmill of Mandrione (Vieste), coming from the great Umbra Forest that Cav. Michele Scannapieco, pioneer of the Vieste industry at the time, contracted out areas to "thinn" it a bit and feed his large sawmill which gave work to a hundred Gargano families.
The fact is that, during one of these crossings to load the timber (then bound for Sicily or even for Venice) while the steamer was moored near the islet of the Faro di Vieste, during the night a violent storm broke the chains with which it was anchored and they pushed her about 100 meters from where she was moored, that is to say near the seashore where her iron wreck is now found, now all covered up in sand near the seashore.
The force of the sea when it was stormy even made the cargo turn aground, as can be seen in the two eloquent photographs.
It has never been thought of removing this wreck from the sea, for the people of Vieste it has become almost a point of reference, as if it were a piece of our marine museum (..which we don't have!).
One last note: the "steam" engine, after the ditching, was dismantled and purchased by Cav. Michele Scannapieco and installed in his large "steam" sawmill of Pantanello in Vieste (formerly Solfuro), where he continued his activity of processing tree trunks for other years….”
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