Molise: the region that “doesn’t exist” (and all the better for it)

Molise has become a meme: "Molise doesn't exist." For anyone chasing the opposite of overtourism, that's precisely the appeal. Tucked between Abruzzo, Campania and Apulia, it's the smallest region in Italy after Valle d'Aosta, and also among the least visited: no queues at the gates, no overrun squares, no lines of tour buses. Here tourism hasn't yet learned to shout, and the silence is the first thing you notice.

The bells of Agnone

The heart of a journey through Molise is slowness. In Agnone, perched on the Apennines above Isernia, the art of bell-casting has been handed down for centuries: the Pontifical Marinelli Foundry is considered one of the oldest family businesses in the world, and in 1924 Pope Pius XI granted it the privilege of adorning its bronzes with the papal coat of arms. Beside the foundry, a small museum tells this thousand-year-old story. To watch it at work, to hear the sound of a bell just cast, is an experience you can still have in only a handful of places on earth.

The droving trails of the transhumance

Then there are the droving trails, the great grassy routes of the transhumance, in places up to a hundred metres wide, walked since Samnite and Roman times by shepherds moving their flocks between mountains and plains. In 2019 transhumance was inscribed by UNESCO among the intangible heritage of humanity, and Molise preserves one of the most extensive and legible networks of these trails in Italy. To walk them, even for a short stretch, is to step into a landscape left outside of time.

The deserted coast

On the opposite side lies a short but almost deserted coastline, empty even in August, from the trabucchi fishing platforms of Termoli to the beaches of Campomarino, from where the ferries leave for the Tremiti Islands. The right way to get around is by car, along the back roads of the interior, ready to ask for directions in a village bar and to stop without a rigid plan.

When to go

When to go? Spring and early autumn offer clear light and villages all to yourself, while summer stays surprisingly livable compared with the crowded destinations nearby. Molise doesn't ask to be consumed in a hurry: it asks for respect, time and a few well-lived stops. In return, it's a journey that gives back silence.

Getting there

By car it's an easy drive from the Adriatic along the A14, exiting at Termoli, from where the SS647 climbs inland towards Campobasso. By train, the natural gateway is Termoli station, on the Adriatic Milan–Bari line, while Isernia is served by the line from Rome; from there you continue to the villages by bus or car. Molise has no airports of its own: the reference hubs are Pescara (the nearest) and, further away, Rome and Naples.

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