Molise - Amordivino

Molise

Population: 329.894
Surface (Kmq): 4438
Density (inhabitants/Kmq.): 74
Main city: Campobasso (CB)
Other towns: Isernia (IS)

Molise is a region of hills and mountains facing the Adriatic Sea to the north of the Gargano promontory. Of the southern regions, it is one of the richest in waterways, which cross the land from the Apennine watershed to the Adriatic Sea. Other rivers, affluents of Volturno, flow into the Tyrrhenian Sea after crossing the region of Campania. Molise and its northern neighbour Abruzzo were joined as one region, known as Abruzzi e Molise, after the unification of Italy in 1860 but separated again in 1963. Molise has a significant place in the history of Italian art, thanks to the cycle of ninth-century frescoes in the crypt of San Lorenzo in San Vincenzo al Volturno. This cycle represents, for style and age, a unique event of noteworthy value. The monuments in Romanesque style show traces of the influence of the adjoining, southern Puglia region. The examples of medieval architecture are very interesting as the Baroque style, with Roman and Neapolitan influences, can be seen in the civic palaces.

In Campobasso, visitors can admire the historic centre and the majestic battlemented castle of the Longobard period, plus the Romanesque churches of San Bartolomeo and San Giorgino. The church of Sant Antonino Abate houses the collection of carvings and wooden sculptures of sixteenth-century masters of Molise. About fifteen kilometres from the city, rises the Romanesque Santa Maria della Strada, with its fifteenth-century Gothic sepulchre.

In Isernia, the Civic Museum holds Samnitic epigraphs and sculptures; the fourteenth-century Fontana della Fraterna is also very interesting. In Pastena, tourists can admire the monumental Sanctuary of the Addolorata of Castelpetroso, surrounded by a thick forest.