★ Town · Termoli and Lower MoliseAcquaviva CollecroceA small hill village where the road signs are written in Italian and Croatian.
The storyIn the early 16th century groups of refugees from the Dalmatian coast, fleeing the Ottoman advance, crossed the Adriatic and settled in the depopulated villages of Molise. In Acquaviva Collecroce, Montemitro and San Felice del Molise their descendants still speak «na-našu», an old Croatian cut off from its mother tongue for five centuries and enriched with Italian words. It is one of the smallest linguistic minorities in Europe.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Isernia and upper MoliseIserniaOne of the most important Palaeolithic sites in Europe, on the edge of Isernia, with a museum built over the excavation.
The storyIn 1978, during roadworks, thousands of bones of elephants, bison and rhinoceroses came to light along with stone tools: it was a camp of hunters who lived about six hundred thousand years ago. In 2014 a child's milk tooth was found among the finds, one of the oldest human remains in Italy. The museum lets you see the original ancient ground surface, just as prehistoric people left it.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Isernia and upper MoliseCastel San VincenzoThe ruins of a great medieval abbey at the source of the Volturno, with a crypt frescoed in the 9th century.
The storyFounded in the early 8th century by three nobles from Benevento, by the 9th century it was one of the richest abbeys in Europe, a small town with hundreds of monks and workshops of glassmakers and goldsmiths. In 881 it was sacked and destroyed by the Saracens. The crypt of Abbot Epiphanius, frescoed between 824 and 842, holds one of the most important early medieval painting cycles in Italy.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Isernia and upper MoliseScapoliA stone village in the Mainarde mountains, Italy's capital of the zampogna bagpipe, with an international museum devoted to the instrument.
The storyIn this valley the zampogna has been made and played for centuries: the pipers set off in December to play the Christmas novenas in the cities, as far as Rome and Naples. The craft workshops still work the wood and skins the old way, and every year at the end of July the show and market brings together players and makers from all over the world.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Isernia and upper MoliseAgnoneA village in upper Molise, with churches and coppersmiths' workshops, where bells have been cast for seven hundred years.
The storyThe Marinelli family has been casting bells in Agnone since at least the 14th century: it is considered one of the oldest family businesses in the world. In 1924 Pope Pius XI granted it the right to use the papal coat of arms, and bells have left here for the Vatican, for the great jubilees and for churches all over the world. In the foundry museum you can still see the work done by hand, with clay and wax moulds.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Isernia and upper MoliseCapracottaOne of the highest villages in the Apennines, at over 1,400 metres, surrounded by beech forests and cross-country ski trails.
The storyCapracotta is famous for its snow: on 5 March 2015 about two and a half metres fell in less than a day, an amount reported as a world record. One of the first ski clubs in southern Italy was founded here in 1914, and the village hosts the most important cross-country races in the Apennines. In summer the Apennine Flora Garden gathers the plants of the mountains of central and southern Italy.
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