If you intend to visit Molise, you certainly cannot fail to dedicate at least a day or two in search of the beauties that are hidden in the streets of Campobasso. You can read this article to find out the 10 best places to visit in Campobasso Italy. Very little known in terms of tourism, you must know that this city is a real pearl of southern Italy: quiet, but also lively, rich in history and culture, but also in natural beauty. Its architectures, archaeological remains and monuments are impressive and the surrounding landscape is equally astonishing. This place has so many things to do and to offer to everyone, amazing point of views, special things to see and many interesting to any tourist.
Despite its name, Campobasso, the capital of Molise, rises at an altitude of seven hundred meters, on the top of the Sant’Antonio hill, in the basin at the crossroads of the Biferno and Fortore rivers, and surrounded by the Sannio and Matese mountains. The new city, on the other hand, was built in the Napoleonic age on the impulse of Gioacchino Murat, who had it built according to the nineteenth-century ideal of the garden city: elegant and stately buildings, in whose gardens there are redwoods, cedars of Lebanon, spruces, holm oaks, and numerous fountains. Let’s discover together what places to visit in Campobasso Italy.
10 Best Places to visit in Campobasso Italy
- Monforte castle
- Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
- Provincial Museum of Sannio
- Museum of Mysteries
- Pistilli Palace
- Church of San Bartolomeo
- Roman amphitheater of Larino
- Bank of Italy building
- St George’s Church
- The historical center
Monforte Castle of Campobasso
The entire urban settlement revolves around this magnificent castle, declared a national monument and symbol of the city. Dating back to 1375, but the dating is still uncertain, it rises at 790 m a.s.l. surrounded by the Via Matris park and is an unmissable site for its beauty and for the panorama that can be enjoyed from its terraces. Next to the castle is the Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Monte, dating back to 1354. This place is an amazing and the most interesting point to see during the visit in Campobasso Italy.
Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
It was the Duke of Termoli Andrea di Capua who wanted it in 1504. It is located outside the feudal walls, once the seat of the brotherhood of the Trinity (suppressed in 1809), famous in the seventeenth century for its rivalry against another brotherhood, that of the Crusaders.Destroyed by the earthquake of 1805, it was rebuilt to a design by the architect Berardino Musegna. Today it is the most representative church of the city. The facade is characterized by a neoclassical portico surmounted by a triangular pediment supported by four columns and two pillars on the sides. Do not miss the paintings by Romeo Musa and Amedeo Trivisonno and the polychrome windows dedicated to San Nicola, Sant’Agostino, Sant’Anastasio and Sant’Ilario, protectors of the principle of the Trinity.
Provincial Museum of Sannio
The Samnite Provincial Museum, housed in Palazzo Mazzarotta, takes us on a discovery of the culture of Sannio, the historical-geographical region inhabited by the Samnites and which corresponded to present-day Molise, part of Campania and Abruzzo. At the o of the museum are on display statues, marbles, bronzes and ceramics found in the Sannio area.
Museum of Mysteries
The Campobasso Museum of Mysteries is managed by the Mysteries and Traditions Association and houses structures and costumes used during the Festival of Mysteries. This is the most important folk event in the city and the best known in the region, which has taken place every year on Corpus Domini Sunday since 1768. The Festival is characterized by the parade of the 13 “Mysteries”, the load-bearing structures created by Paolo Saverio Di Zinno holding up the volunteer figures, carried on the shoulders of other volunteers.
Pistilli Palace Campobasso
Stately residence from 1783, in one part of the building it offers a private collection donated to the state in 2014. The exhibition is on two floors and presents almost 200 works from three centuries in chronological order and in a very refined and elegant environment; many of them have as their subject the historical period between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A multimedia room allows you to view interesting documentaries on the birth and life of the museum itself. This palace is one of the places to visit in Campobasso Italy, according our list.
Church of San Bartolomeo
On the slopes of Monte Monforte, this ancient Romanesque church from the 13th century, dedicated to Bartolomeo Apostolo, is small in size but elegant and has a beautiful portal decorated with columns. The interior has three naves supported by columns joined by round arches, has a beautiful Renaissance-style stoup from 1595 and some bas-reliefs. Next to the church stands a circular tower in rough mountain stone.
Roman amphitheater of Larino of Campobasso
In the locality of Larino, a real Roman city, there is this magnificent amphitheater from the Flavian era which perfectly preserves the arena with the podium, the inclined plane of the ima cavea, some vomitoria and the perimeter structures. Of the four main entrances, the one to the north was the famous door from which the victorious gladiators came out, while the one to the south was intended for the exit of the killed gladiators and animal carcasses.
Bank of Italy building
An elegant three-storey building of neoclassical inspiration, it was built in 1925. The slightly arched façade seems to want to incorporate the opposite monument to Gabriele Pepe. The interior is accessed via a staircase that leads to an Art Nouveau hall, with colored mosaic windows and embellished with seven lunette paintings, the work of Molise artists Nicola Biondi, Arnaldo De Lisio and Francesco Paolo Diodati. It is located on Piazza Pepe.
St George’s Church of Campobasso
San Giorgio is the oldest church in Campobasso, it dates back to the 10th century but was built in Romanesque style on the ruins of an ancient medieval building. Simple and of elegant architecture, like all the churches of that period, it does not have significant details inside, but the annexed cemetery is characteristic, which for centuries welcomed the deceased who took care of the parish. Given its position on Monte Monforte, it offers the visitor a beautiful panorama.
The historical center of Campobasso
You must know that Campobasso expands on various levels. The medieval part of the city, the oldest one, is located on Monte Monforte, where you can find the homonymous castle mentioned a little while ago. You cant leave without visit historical center because is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Campobasso. The lower part is instead made up of the lively Borgo Murattiano, while the rest of the city develops in the plain. This area is extremely green and there are so many parks and natural spaces that you will be pleasantly amazed. Walking through the center of the so-called “metropolis of Molise”, as it is actually the most populous city in the region, you will come across many different attractions, one more fascinating than the other.