Pratella

Pratella has existed as a comune since 17 February 1907, when a royal decree detached it from Prata. Seventeen years later it changed region without moving: when the province of Terra di Lavoro was abolished in 1927, the village was attached to the province of Campobasso, and only in 1945 did it return to that of Caserta. Eighteen years in Molise seem few, but something stayed stuck to it: the village football club, A.S.D. Pratella, still plays today in the Molise leagues. It is the kind of legacy that decrees cannot bring back.

The war reached here on 19 October 1943, when the American bombardments began. The Germans drove the remaining people out of their homes and occupied the houses, which drew further shelling onto the village; on the evening of 30 October the Americans managed to enter Pratella, but in the outlying hamlets the fighting went on for days. What was left standing can still be seen: the old centre is perched on the hill, made of narrow winding lanes, with remains of walls and towers, and the parish church of San Nicola has two naves and a slender bell tower. Before the Middle Ages, at Roccavecchia, there was a Samnite settlement, of which bricks, ancient tombs and a good many finds remain; and in the territory there are springs rich in minerals, among them the Sorgesana.