«Molise does not exist», the internet jokes, and it is the best possible advertisement for the youngest region in Italy: it was born in 1963, detaching the province of Campobasso from what was then called Abruzzi e Molise, and the second province, Isernia, arrived only in 1970. There are 136 comuni in all, and the name comes not from a mountain or a river but from a family: the De Molisio, first feudal lords of the county. Before the Romans the Frentani and the Pentri, a Samnite tribe, lived here.
It exists all right, and you can see it in the tratturi: the grassy motorways of transhumance, up to 111 metres wide, which have crossed the region for centuries. At Agnone the papal Marinelli foundry still casts bells with unchanged techniques; at Pietrabbondante there is a Samnite theatre among the mountains; on the coast Termoli holds some thirty kilometres of sea, and at Campitello Matese you ski almost in private. Arbëreshë and Molise Slavic are spoken here too.
The places worth the trip on their own, picked by our editors.
Campobasso 🏛 Campobasso The Monforte castle and the Misteri carried through the streets 
Termoli 🏖 Campobasso The walled old town on its headland, the trabucchi and the Tremiti 
Isernia 🏛 Isernia La Pineta, among Europe's oldest settlements, and the Fontana Fraterna 
Venafro 🏛 Isernia Augustus's colony and the Pandone castle 
Larino 🏛 Campobasso The Roman amphitheatre and a rose window with thirteen spokes 
Agnone 🍷 Isernia Cave-aged caciocavallo and filled wafers, under the Marinelli bells 
Sepino 🏛 Campobasso Saepinum, the Roman town left standing along the drove road 
Capracotta ⛰ Isernia One of the highest villages in the Apennines, and record snow Map and list are connected: hover one to light up the other, click to enter.
Our editors' ranking: the area's most important places, drawn from the individual town guides. See the national rankings →
1 🏺 Archaeological sites Saepinum Archaeological Area 📍 Sepino Encircled by walls built by Tiberius, ancient Saepinum is an exceptionally preserved Roman city in the Molise plain. 
2 🏛️ Squares & old towns Old Termoli 📍 Termoli A walled Adriatic promontory featuring an 11th-century castle, a Romanesque cathedral, and historic wooden trabucchi. 
3 🎈 Unique experiences Marinelli Bell Foundry 📍 Agnone One of Italy's oldest family businesses, this pontifical foundry has been casting bells since 1040. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
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📅 Every year, on 15 October
Torella del Sannio celebrates Saint Clement the martyr on 15 October; the town, split between the newer Colle district and the ancient Ciglione, is dominated by the castle developed in the 13th century by the Angevins and later passed to several noble families.
📅 Every year, on 6 November
Castelmauro celebrates Saint Leonard the Confessor on 6 November; the town, originally called Castelluccio Acquaborrana, had a 13th-century castle owned by the Canzano family, destroyed by the great earthquake that struck central-southern Italy in 1456.
📅 Every year, on 6 November, with the Antica Fiera di San Leonardo
Colli a Volturno celebrates Saint Leonard the Abbot on 6 November, with the Antica Fiera di San Leonardo; his church aligns perfectly, on a west-east axis, with the abbey of San Leonardo in Lama Volara at Siponto, a medieval waypoint for pilgrims to Jerusalem.
📅 Every year, on 11 November
Castelpetroso celebrates Saint Martin of Tours on 11 November; his 13th-century parish church holds a mosaic of the saint, but the town is best known for the Sanctuary of the Sorrowful Mother, where tradition holds the Virgin appeared in 1888.
