Isernia
Isernia About is a town and comune in the central Italian region of Molise, and the capital of Isernia province.
Main sights
Although having been object of repeated destruction, Isernia preserves a large number of monuments of fairly good archaeological interest. The historical center still keeps intact the spare map structure of the Roman cities: in fact it represents the largest raced Marcelli street, around which there is an infinity of alleys and little spares, as for example, "Trento e Trieste" spares. The famous Fraterna Fountain, the town's main symbol, was built in the 13th century: it is made up of living stone's slabs coming from ruined Roman monuments, while all the rest is a work of local masters, cmomissioned by the Rampini family of Isernia.
Fontana Fraterna
The "Fontana Fraterna" is a refined public fountain with six water jets, with an unusual arcade-shape, made of blocks of calcareous, compact stone. It is built of Roman and Romanesque materials, and has been restored in 1835. The fountain has articulated into three fillets laid one upon the other. From below, there is a series of smooth fillets (the one on the left is a Roman-epoch and fragmentary epigraph with the letters AE PONT, while in the centre there is a mat decorated with dolphins and a Roman-age flower, probably coming from a sepulchral building), then there is a median fillet with a series of six round arches supported, on the left side, by little circular columns and on the right side, by little octagonal columns. Above these columns there are some capitals of re-employment. Two capitals have trapezoidal-plant abacus and perhaps adorned a window splay. The higher fillet presents a line of smooth ashlars on which twelve little hanging arches set, supported by little brackets adorned with zoomorphic, phitomorphic and geometric motives. On the bottom of the fountain, on a second level in respect to the arcade, you can distinguish two blocks of Roman age with some swags and a funerary epigraph dedicated to the god Mani. On its right side there is a third high-mediaeval epigraph, situated between two lion statues, referring to the building of a fountain. A deep study of the surfaces allows to verify that the blocks were worked on several occasions, with an extremely long interval, and that come from an undefined number of buildings of the town. Therefore the handiwork represents an interesting abacus of workings, decorative elements, an exemplar of material culture with centuries of town history written on.
La Pineta
Isernia is also known for the archaeological excavation located within its borders, at Isernia La Pineta. Isernia La Pineta contains thousands of bones and stone tools covering 24,000 square yards. It was discovered in 1979, by an amateur naturalist noticed a bone sticking out of the side of a cut that had been created by the construction of the Napoli-Vasto motorway. The site was clearly created by humans, but its purpose is still unknown. The man who lived there was called Homo Aeserniensis.
Castelromano
The largest and most populous rural village (500 inhabitants approx.) close to Isernia is Castelromano, situated in a plateau at the foot of Mount La Romana (882 m) at an altitude of 680 m above sea level, about 5 km west of the city. The origin of the place is very old. It still has three impressive masonry walls placed to defend a fortified settlement (oppida) and an entrance off about 4 meters still visible where the road surface, dating to the 3rd and 4th centuries BC
Main sights
Although having been object of repeated destruction, Isernia preserves a large number of monuments of fairly good archaeological interest. The historical center still keeps intact the spare map structure of the Roman cities: in fact it represents the largest raced Marcelli street, around which there is an infinity of alleys and little spares, as for example, "Trento e Trieste" spares. The famous Fraterna Fountain, the town's main symbol, was built in the 13th century: it is made up of living stone's slabs coming from ruined Roman monuments, while all the rest is a work of local masters, cmomissioned by the Rampini family of Isernia.
Fontana Fraterna
The "Fontana Fraterna" is a refined public fountain with six water jets, with an unusual arcade-shape, made of blocks of calcareous, compact stone. It is built of Roman and Romanesque materials, and has been restored in 1835. The fountain has articulated into three fillets laid one upon the other. From below, there is a series of smooth fillets (the one on the left is a Roman-epoch and fragmentary epigraph with the letters AE PONT, while in the centre there is a mat decorated with dolphins and a Roman-age flower, probably coming from a sepulchral building), then there is a median fillet with a series of six round arches supported, on the left side, by little circular columns and on the right side, by little octagonal columns. Above these columns there are some capitals of re-employment. Two capitals have trapezoidal-plant abacus and perhaps adorned a window splay. The higher fillet presents a line of smooth ashlars on which twelve little hanging arches set, supported by little brackets adorned with zoomorphic, phitomorphic and geometric motives. On the bottom of the fountain, on a second level in respect to the arcade, you can distinguish two blocks of Roman age with some swags and a funerary epigraph dedicated to the god Mani. On its right side there is a third high-mediaeval epigraph, situated between two lion statues, referring to the building of a fountain. A deep study of the surfaces allows to verify that the blocks were worked on several occasions, with an extremely long interval, and that come from an undefined number of buildings of the town. Therefore the handiwork represents an interesting abacus of workings, decorative elements, an exemplar of material culture with centuries of town history written on.
La Pineta
Isernia is also known for the archaeological excavation located within its borders, at Isernia La Pineta. Isernia La Pineta contains thousands of bones and stone tools covering 24,000 square yards. It was discovered in 1979, by an amateur naturalist noticed a bone sticking out of the side of a cut that had been created by the construction of the Napoli-Vasto motorway. The site was clearly created by humans, but its purpose is still unknown. The man who lived there was called Homo Aeserniensis.
Castelromano
The largest and most populous rural village (500 inhabitants approx.) close to Isernia is Castelromano, situated in a plateau at the foot of Mount La Romana (882 m) at an altitude of 680 m above sea level, about 5 km west of the city. The origin of the place is very old. It still has three impressive masonry walls placed to defend a fortified settlement (oppida) and an entrance off about 4 meters still visible where the road surface, dating to the 3rd and 4th centuries BC
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