Culture, art and tradition

The Pignatelli castle, with its beautiful crenellated towers, dominates the Volturno plain on the Isernia-Venafro road. In the past it was a key point of entry into the "Contado del Molise" as a lookout on the Via Latina. A first settlement nucleus, in the places where today the castle rises, dates back to the Samnite age. The origins of the castle-fortress instead date back to the Lombard period, when the population was forced to retreat to face the violent Saracen raids. It was with the Norman domination, however, that the castle, for purely military needs, was enlarged compared to the original Lombard structure and strengthened with the erection of walls, which also included some homes. In 1193 the entire country paid dearly for its deployment against the Emperor Henry VI in favor of the Norman Tancredi.

The castle is located on the Serrone hill, in the heart of the historical center of the town. It underwent various transformations over the centuries: from castle-fortress to castle-feudal residence in medieval times, finally, in the sixteenth century, in castle-renaissance palace by the feudal family of Di Capua. It then became baronial-marchesal property, then private, now state property. It looks like a medieval manor transformed into an elegant mansion in the Renaissance. Entering its rooms, one is fascinated by the sixteenth-century frescoes by Donato Decumbertino.

"The International Museum of the Reed-pipe" named after its creator Pasquale Vecchione, is unique in the world for its peculiarity and characteristic for the extraordinary architectural recovery of the structure, cured in every aspect in the splendid scenery of Palazzo Mancini.

The Museum of Paleolithic was born around the archaeological area of Isernia La Pineta and is divided into three buildings of about 4,000 square meters joined together by a long external corridor that accompanies the visitor to the visit thanks to a series of large photographs dedicated to all aspects of research, education and enhancement of the site and the museum. The last update of museum's collection offer a completely visit about the process of evolution of world.

Frosolone lived and lives with the working of scissors and knives even if the typology of the production has been modified in time. These objects have always invaded the national market, even if with greater intensity the southern regions. Currently they are heading with good results also abroad where they are appreciated for their precision, cut and tradition.

The Misteri Museum, inaugurated on October 07, 2006, is an indispensable reality to give dignity to Paolo Saverio di Zinno's ingenuity and to the "Ingegni" he conceived and realized in the middle of the XVIII century, that on Corpus Domini day.

In Agnone, the Marinelli Museum is one of the few in the world that gathers a vast collection of bells from the year one thousand to our days, each with its shape, friezes, inscriptions, and particular sound. Written and iconographic material, drawings, sketches, reproductions, precious manuscripts and publications, documentation on the ancient art of bronze casting, complete the artistic, historical and cultural heritage of the museum.