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.

This area of Italy was inhabited in pre-Roman times by the pre-Indo-European culture of the Piceni and subsequently by various Italic tribes. Known in ancient times as Samnium, the name was changed in the Middle Ages to Aprutium. In the 12th century the emperor Frederick the 1st named the region Listitieratu Aprutii and made it part of the Kingdom of Southern Italy, a political entity that despite many difficulties maintained its own identity until 1860. L'Aquila, the current regional capital, was founded in 1254, most likely to sustain an anti-imperial uprising in the western part of the region. The Kingdom of Southern Italy, reunited as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies under Spain in the 15th century, passed from Spain to Austria and, in 1735, became territory of the French Bourbons. When Napoleon assumed power, his brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, became the king of Southern Italy. The poet Gabriele Rossetti from Vasto was appointed Secretary of Public Education in the administration of the kingdom. Rossetti later lived in exile in London where his son, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, became a well-known painter and was one of the founders of the pre-Raphaelite movement.

The Kingdom of Southern Italy came to an end in 1860, following Garibaldi's victorious campaign that united Italy into the modern state that we know today. Molise and Abruzzo were then joined into a single region known as Abruzzi e Molise. Their status was changed in 1963 when they were re-divided into separate entities. Only recently has some commercial, industrial and tourist industry infrastructure been built in these sparse mountain areas, providing an alternate source of income from the region's limited agricultural production. Poor economic prospects meant this region was largely abandoned by its inhabitants during its recent history.