Italy's second-smallest and least-visited region, split from Abruzzo only in 1963 and the subject of a national running joke ('Molise non esiste'). It is real, and quietly rewarding: Saepinum is a small Roman town you can walk through almost alone, the tratturi — the vast medieval sheep-droving roads — cross the region, Capracotta gets some of the deepest snow in the Apennines, and the Adriatic ends at Termoli, the departure port for the Tremiti Islands.
- Saepinum Roman town
- Termoli's old town and the Tremiti ferry
- Capracotta and the Alto Molise
- The tratturi sheep roads
- Campobasso and Castello Monforte
- Agnone's bell foundry
- Best time to go
- May–June and September for walking; July–August for the short Adriatic coast.
- Getting there
- Naples and Pescara airports, both around 1h30–2h by road. Rail is slow; drive.
© OpenFreeMap · OSM · terrain Mapterhorn · boundaries © EuroGeographics (Eurostat GISCO)
Headline places
What italia.it leads with in Molise.
-
Saepinum A complete small Roman town in a field — free, and usually empty - Capracotta & the Alto Molise One of the snowiest places in Italy, with a giardino della flora appenninica
-
Pietrabbondante A Samnite theatre and temple at 1,000 m, facing the mountains it was aligned on -
Agnone & the Marinelli bell foundry The oldest family firm in Italy — casting church bells since around 1040 - Basilica of Addolorata, Castelpetroso A neo-Gothic pilgrimage basilica laid out as a seven-petalled flower under the Matese
Cities & bases
Where to sleep, and what each place is good for.
Molise by experience
The themes this region delivers on.
-
Art & culture More UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country on earth -
Food & wine Regional to the point of parochial — and all the better for it -
Coast & islands 7,900 km of coastline and around eighty inhabited islands -
Mountains & the Dolomites The Dolomites, the western Alps and the wild Apennines -
Borghi & villages The hill towns that carry I Borghi più belli d'Italia and the Orange Flag -
Spirituality & pilgrimage Rome, Assisi, and the pilgrim roads that connect them
More of The South
-
Abruzzo The wildest Apennines — bears, national parks and a trabocchi coast -
Campania Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and the islands of the bay -
Puglia Trulli, baroque Lecce, whitewashed towns and two seas -
Basilicata Matera's cave city, the Lucanian Dolomites and a sliver of Tyrrhenian coast -
Calabria Tropea's cliffs, three national parks and the Riace Bronzes