Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
by road workers in 1978. Excavations are ongoing, although you can visit by calling the
site office
( 0865 41 35 26; Contrada Ramiera Vecchia 1)
.
If you don't make it to the site, the dusty
Museo Santa Maria delle Monache
( 0865 41 05
00; Corso Marcelli 48; admission €2; 8.30am-7pm)
houses many of its finds, including piles of
elephant and rhino bones, fossils and stone tools.
If you want to stay the night,
Hotel Sayonara
( 0865 5 09 92;
www.sayonara.is.it
; Via G Berta
131; s/d €55/85; )
is the most centrally located hotel. It's an anonymous business-style
set-up, but rooms are comfortable and there's a convenient restaurant.
Isernia's
tourist office
( 0865 39 92; 6th fl, Via Farinacci 9, Palazzo della Regione; 8am-2pm
Mon-Sat)
can provide accommodation lists but little more in the way of practical help.
From the bus terminus next to the train station on Piazza della Repubblica,
Azienda di
Trasporti Molisana
(
www.atm-molise.it
)
runs buses to Campobasso (€3.50, 50 minutes, five
daily) and Termoli (€8.80, 1¾ hours, three daily). Get tickets from Bar Ragno d'Oro on
the square.
Trains connect Isernia with Sulmona (€7.10, three to four hours, two daily), Campo-
basso (€2.80, one hour, 14 daily), Naples (€6, two hours, five daily) and Rome (€10.70,
two hours, six daily).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Around Isernia
While Isernia itself is a let-down, the surrounding hills are peppered with sights rich in
history, from an ancient Samnite theatre/temple to a 9th-century fresco cycle.
Sights
CHURCH
Abbazia di San Vincenzo al Volturno
( 0865 95 52 46; by appointment)
A 30km drive northwest of Isernia, near Castel San
Vincenzo, the Abbazia di San Vincenzo al Volturno is famous for its cycle of 9th-century
frescoes by Epifanio (824-842). The abbey, one of the foremost monastic and cultural
centres in 9th-century Europe, is now home to a community of Benedictine nuns.
Marinelli Pontificia
