Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Around Campobasso
Looming over Campobasso and the Saepinum ruins are the
Monti del Matese
(Matese
Mountains).
Campitello Matese
(elevation 1430m) is a popular ski resort with facilities for
winter and summer sports. Outside of the ski season and summer holiday period, the re-
sort pretty much shuts up.
Between December and March,
Autolinee Micone
(
0874 78 01 20)
runs three daily buses
from Campobasso up to Campitello Matese (one hour).
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Saepinum
A hidden Molise treasure, the
Roman ruins
of Saepinum are among the best preserved and
least visited in the country. Unlike Pompeii and Ostia Antica, which were both major
ports, Saepinum was a small provincial town of no great importance. It was originally es-
tablished by the Samnites but the Romans conquered it in 293 BC, paving the way for an
economic boom in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Some 700 years later, it was sacked by
Arab invaders. The walled town retains three of its four original gates and its two main
roads, the
cardus maximus
and the
decamanus
. Highlights include the forum, basilica and
theatre, near to which the
Museo Archeologico Vittoriano
(admission €2;
9.30am-1pm &
3-6.30pm Tue-Sun)
displays artefacts unearthed on the site.
It's not easy to reach Saepinum by public transport, but the bus from Campobasso to
Sepinio (€1.20, six daily weekdays) generally stops near the site at Altilia, although it's
best to ask the driver.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Isernia
POP 22,000
Surrounded by remote, sparsely populated hills, Isernia doesn't make a huge impression.
Earthquakes and a massive WWII bombing raid spared little of its original
centro storico
and the modern centre is a drab, workaday place. The one reason to stop over is to visit
the site of one of Europe's oldest human settlements, a 700,000-year-old village unearthed
