  We present the first data release (DR1) of the VST Early-type GAlaxy Survey
(VEGAS). This is a deep multi-band (u'g'r'i') imaging survey, carried out with
the ESO VLT Survey Telescope (VST). To date, using about 90% of the total
observing time, VEGAS has already collected 43 targets (groups and clusters of
galaxies) covering a total area on the sky of about 95 square degrees. Taking
advantage of the wide (1 deg^2) field-of-view of OmegaCAM@VST, the long
integration time and the wide variety of targets, VEGAS has proven to be a gold
mine to explore the structure of galaxies down to the faintest surface
brightness levels of about 27-30 mag/arcsec^2 in the SDSS g' band, for the
dense clusters of galaxies and for the unexplored poor groups of galaxies.
Based on the analysed data, VEGAS allowed us to i) study the galaxy outskirts,
detect the intra-cluster light and low-surface brightness features in the
intra-cluster/group space, ii) trace the mass assembly in galaxies, by
estimating the accreted mass fraction in the stellar halos and provide results
that can be directly compared with the predictions of galaxy formation models,
iii) trace the spatial distribution of candidate globular clusters, and iv)
detect the ultra-diffuse galaxies. With the DR1, we provide the reduced VST
mosaics of 10 targets, which have been presented in the VEGAS publications. The
data products are available via the ESO Science Portal (see
http://www.eso.org/sci/observing/phase3/news.html#VEGAS-DR1).
