[6] It was conquered by the Romans in 214 BCE and remained "Aternum" after the city allied itself with Punic Carthaginian military commander Hannibal.

The historic city center is located on the south shore, where once stood the Piazzaforte (fortified town), a military bulwark of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

There is the Bagno Borbonico (the old prison of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, built starting in 1510 by order of Charles V, which incorporated inside the remains of the Norman and Byzantine city walls).

In the historic city center are the birthplace houses of Gabriele D'Annunzio[9] and Ennio Flaiano, and the San Cetteo Cathedral, build between 1933 and 1938.

[11] In the very south part of the city, between the D'Avalos Park and the beach, there is an elegant Art Nouveau villas district designed in 1912 by Antonino Liberi (an engineer brother-in-law of D'Annunzio).

There is also the Aurum, first headquarters of a social club (called the Kursaal), then liquor factory, and today public multipurpose space.