In the heart of Chieti’s historic center is Palazzo dei Veneziani, an 18th-century building with a beautiful, elegantly decorated three-door façade overlooking Largo Teatro Vecchio. It originally housed one of the first modern theaters in Abruzzo, the Chieti Theater, privately owned by Anna Maria Fasolo, who had it erected around 1750. Over the years it has changed use numerous times and faced as many remodels, becoming one of the symbols of the city’s history when it was home to the Military District of Venice. During World War I, in the difficult moments following the defeat of Caporetto, when numerous evacuees arrived in Chieti receiving solidarity and welcome, it was a precious “casket” of the registry documents of the Serenissima. At the end of the war, the Venetians, as a sign of gratitude, donated to the city two bas-reliefs of the Lion of St. Mark, executed by Annibale De Lotto (who was also displaced to Chieti), one placed in the center of the facade of the Palazzetto, the other present in the Palazzo d’Achille, both precious testimonies of the Venetians’ gratitude to our city.
