Chieti

Chieti stands on a ridge above the Pescara valley, between the Adriatic and the mountains of Abruzzo. Its cathedral of San Giustino and the streets around it occupy a site settled since antiquity. The city gave birth in 1539 to Alessandro Valignano, a Jesuit missionary whose work carried him to Asia. In 1706 an earthquake originating in the Maiella region severely damaged the cathedral and its bell tower, bringing the danger of the nearby mountains into the heart of the city.