Tony Vaccaro’s photograph Vecchio Bonefrano brings to mind lyrics from Kris Kristofferson’s The Pilgrim: Chapter 33: 

“He’s a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction...
wearing yesterday’s misfortune like a smile…” 

The photograph and the lyrics seem to embody the historical development of the Molise. That is, Molise history may seem to “contradict” expectations, as distinct from our knowledge of Italian history.  Traditions and legends become inseparable from empirical history.  The Molise culture developed within a series of historic “misfortunes,” such as catastrophic earthquakes, plagues, invasions and political gerrymandering, yet emerged a people of strength, resilience, beauty and intelligence.    

In this section, we explore various phases of Molise history and related legends to provide an understanding of its culture evolution.  Click the links on the timeline below for details of each era.  

Timeline

Overview 

Brigantage

Other Cultures

Earthquakes

Prehistory:
 Archeology

 DNA 

 Earliest Man
 
Samnite
600 BC

Roman
280 BC

Goth
489 AD

Lombard
555 AD

Norman
1070 AD

Swabian
1200 AD

Angevin
1266 AD

Aragonese
1443 AD

Partenopea
1798

Bourbon
1815

Risorgimento
1860

WWI
1915

Fascism
1922

WWII
1940

Republic
1946

Fast Facts 

Government: 
Regional President and Parliament elected by popular vote every 5 years

Provinces: 
Campobasso (84 towns)
and Isernia (52 towns)

Area: 4,438 sq km or 1,714 sq mi
(slightly larger than Rhode Island)

Population (2006):  320,907

Production: 

·         Large number of small farms, producing wheat, broad beans, potatoes, olives, wine grapes, sunflowers

·         Sheep farming

·         Natural gas deposits at Larino

·         Fiat plant near Termoli

UNESCO Biospheres: 
Collemeluccio and Montedimezzo

In 1819, Richard Colt Hoare wrote of the area known today as the Molise that “it is somewhat singular that the interior of Italy should remain so little known, and so little frequented.”  Nearly 200 years later, these words still echo true.

The Molise is an ancient and noble land, with a wealth of archaeological finds dating to the Middle Paleolithic, as well as Samnite and Roman excavations.  It has alternately been invaded by Greeks, Carthaginians and Saracens, occupied by Germanic Goths and Lombards, and ruled by French and Spanish.  Emigration decimated its population in the late 19th and early 20th century.  Its political boundaries have at times included parts of Abruzzo, Puglia and Campania, and thus it shares phases of history with these regions.

Today’s Molise is the newest and the second smallest region of Italy, formed in 1963 when it was separated from the region Abruzzi e Molise.  If not exact center on the Italian map, the Molise occupies a central position in the hearts and memories of its children.  For example, in her book Italian Days, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison wrote of her visit to the Molise, origin of her grandparents.  Her words eloquently describe the beauty and contradictory nature of the area:

“This is the center of Italy, heart, cradle, home of ancient races, oldest man, older than history.  Here one sees the earth as it was after the last sigh of creation, one sees it as if it were still becoming… and this seeing, which is a kind of sharing in the act of creation, inspires awe not unalloyed by dread.  The mountains seem still to be groaning, pushing themselves up toward the sky… And this is like riding waves of mountains to the beginning of the wild world.  The place where the world begins and the place where the world ends is the same place.  We are out of our world…

In these mountains, history and myth are equally plausible, impossible to separate.  We are riding the crests of the waves.  In fact there is a kind of tingle in the air that always means:  the sea; the sea is to the east of us, eventually the mountains find their home in it (an end to all travail), and the land knows it, and so, on top of this world, do we…

This is a peaceful land, a violent land, harsh, gentle, rich, poor, a land of blessing and of bondage.

This is home.”