The Sanfelice castle sits on top of the rock spur that closes the village at its upper end, at about 783 metres, watching over the Terra di Sopra quarter. It was never mere scenery: its job was to control the Castel di Sangro-Lucera drove road, the grassy track used by flocks, merchants and pilgrims. When transhumance lost its weight, the fortress lost its trade, and in the 19th century it was abandoned.
What to see
The oldest core is square and goes back to around the 11th century, when the area belonged to the Normans of Beraldo, count of Isernia; the tower of Lombard-Norman descent belongs to that phase. In the 13th century the castle passed to the Counts of Molise, in the 16th to the D'Avalos of Vasto, and finally to the Sanfelice, the last feudal lords until 1806, who gave it its name. Every owner added something. The Renaissance brought the entrance portal, the loggia on the main floor, the stables, the upper courtyard with its garden and the wing looking over the valley, when the fortress was converted into a nobleman's residence. Before the heritage authority's restoration only one portion was still lived in, and the rest threatened to come down.
Visiting
The way up is the Scalinata Sanfelice, which starts at the church of Santa Maria Assunta and climbs in zigzags: recent work, but laid in cobbles and cut brick, so it sits well with the rest. Take it slowly, because every change of direction shifts the view over the village, split in two by the rock ridge. Halfway up you meet the other reason Bagnoli is recognisable from a distance: the church of San Silvestro, jammed between two walls of rock, its onion dome in coloured majolica answering the one on the bell tower further down.