Stella Maris, a historic palace, reopens in the Italian seaside town of Montesilvano as the new hub of University d’Annunzio (Chieti/Pescara) Healthy Campus, bringing a landmark of twentieth-century architecture back into public life
A major event just steps from the beach in Montesilvano, an Adriatic seaside town in Abruzzo, Italy, brought together public officials and, above all, a large crowd of local residents. This marked the rebirth of Stella Maris, now set to become the hub of University d’Annunzio of Chieti/Pescara Healthy Campus: a new university centre for wellbeing, research and active participation. Rector Liborio Stuppia said: “It will not be a facility reserved for the University, but a place open to the whole city.”
After decades of disuse, one of the most recognisable landmarks on the Abruzzo coast is coming back to life. Today, Gabriele d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara officially opens the restored and repurposed Stella Maris in Montesilvano, bringing back into public use a building that forms part of the region’s historical, architectural and cultural identity. It will now serve a new public purpose, supporting research, education, accommodation, sport, culture and the University’s public-engagement mission.
Designed in 1936 by architect Francesco Leoni and built between 1938 and 1939, Stella Maris — also known as Stella Matutina — is instantly recognisable for its aeroplane-shaped plan and is a distinctive example of Italian Rationalist architecture. Conceived as a seaside holiday camp for children, it was used during the Second World War as a German military headquarters and military hospital. After the war, it once again became a summer camp and later housed a residential institution for orphaned and disadvantaged children run by the Rieti-based religious congregation Riparatrici del Santo Volto, as well as a primary school and, subsequently, a care home. The building fell into disuse in the 1980s.
For generations of Abruzzo residents, Stella Maris has been far more than a building. Thousands of children spent part of their childhood there, and memories of study, holidays and growing up remain woven into the region’s collective history.
The redevelopment led by the University restores Stella Maris to a public role and gives it a new life as a centre for academic, scientific and cultural activity. The building will provide space for work linked to research contracts, meeting rooms, a library, offices and accommodation for students, staff and University guests. The ground floor includes the entrance, café and shared spaces; the first floor will house exhibition areas, teaching rooms and spaces for seminars and meetings; the second floor will retain its accommodation function; and the roof will provide a multi-purpose venue overlooking the sea. Stella Maris will also host activities coordinated by the University’s Delegate for Sport.
With its reopening, Stella Maris becomes the hub for Ud’A Healthy Campus. The new university centre is devoted to wellbeing and quality of life: a place where the strength of the University’s educational model meets active participation, physical and mental wellbeing, research and support services. Through Ud’A Healthy Campus, the University puts the One Health approach into practice across the wider community, bringing together education, research, services and public engagement and recognising the links between human health, the environment and individual behaviour.
The model brings together initiatives and expertise already established across the University in healthy lifestyles, physical activity and sport, prevention, mental wellbeing, healthy eating and sustainability — from sport and exercise programmes to psychological counselling, prevention and personalised medicine. Stella Maris will serve as the physical hub for this wider network: a place open to the community where research, sport, culture, accommodation and engagement with local residents can come together to promote wellbeing. It reflects a broader view of university education as the development of the whole person, with health, sport, social connection and a sense of community embedded in campus life.
The first events scheduled for the new venue underline its role as a meeting point between the University and the wider community. Stella Maris will host events as part of the Festival Dannunziano in the first week of September 2026, followed by the University’s Graduation Day at the end of September. In mid-October, it will host an event organised by the Conference of Italian University Rectors (CRUI) on universities’ Third Mission and public engagement.
“Reopening Stella Maris means giving the people of Abruzzo back a place that belongs to their collective memory and giving it a new purpose,” said Liborio Stuppia, Rector of Gabriele d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara. “We want it to become the hub for Ud’A Healthy Campus: a university centre devoted to wellbeing and open to the wider community. It will not be reserved for the University, but open to the whole city, bringing together research, education, the library, accommodation, sport and cultural activity. This is the kind of university we believe in: one that protects its heritage, returns it to the community and turns it into a place where people can meet, learn and thrive.”
The reopening is part of a wider University strategy to bring university life and cultural services into the heart of local communities, using buildings of outstanding historical value. At Palazzo de’ Mayo in Chieti, the University has opened new study spaces and launched academic and cultural activities; Stella Maris now offers a further example of urban regeneration through the return of a landmark building to everyday civic life. In both cases, the aim is to give historic properties a lived, daily purpose, combining education, culture, wellbeing and public services.
Valued at approximately €3.3 million, the project has been financed through University funds and funding from the Abruzzo Region under the 2021–2027 Development and Cohesion Fund. It is the result of cooperation between the University, the Abruzzo Region, the Province of Pescara, which owns the building, and the Municipality of Montesilvano.
The surrounding landscape has been treated as an integral part of the redevelopment. A new “Dune Garden” recreates the coastal dune ecosystem and restores the building’s original relationship with the sea. By enhancing the landscape and creating fully accessible public spaces where people can meet and spend time, the garden also embodies the environmental dimension of the Ud’A Healthy Campus vision.
The project completes a complex, multi-stage restoration programme that has renewed the building, upgraded its systems, refurbished its interiors and returned a protected property of major historical and architectural interest to full use.
With the reopening of Stella Maris, Gabriele d’Annunzio University is giving the region more than a restored building. It is creating the hub for Ud’A Healthy Campus: a new centre for research, education, wellbeing, culture and civic engagement. Here, the university experience extends beyond academic study, with sport, health, social connection, active participation and support services contributing to the development of the whole person and strengthening the University’s relationship with the city and the wider region. By bringing together heritage conservation, innovation, quality of life and landscape enhancement, the project gives a new future to one of Italy’s most distinctive twentieth-century buildings.
- Stella Maris, a historic palace, reopens in the Italian seaside town of Montesilvano as the new hub of University d’Annunzio (Chieti/Pescara) Healthy Campus