One of his entries obtained a silver medal at a competition by Accademia di San Luca in Rome.

He returned to Maiori in 1868, where he painted frescoes in the Collegiata di Santa Maria a Mare, for the Abbey of La Trinità della Cava, and for the churches of Fisciano and Casalvelino.

Among the Costaioli painters are Angelo Della Mura, Antonio Ferrigno, Luigi Paolillo, Enrico Lucibello, and Pietro Scoppetta.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, they were joined in Maiori by Antonio Rocco, Luca Albino, Manfredi Nicoletti, Ignazio Lucibello, Gaetano Cimini, Paolo Caruso, Ulderico Forcellini, and Vittorio Acabbo.

[3] Gaetano the elder was knighted into the Order of the Crown of Italy and made honorary member of various academies.