Generale_INGL 25-03-2008 13:28 Pagina 138 Benevento and Sannio 138 139 Land of ancient history, of legends and old traditions, Sannio offers ideal destinations for the i discovery of art in a beautiful natural setting. It is a land of spectacular natural scenery: bare Apennine massifs, hills dotted with vineyards and olive groves, green valleys. Besides Benevento, there are many interesting towns Ente Provinciale per il to visit: all the villages of Sannio, large and small, Turismo di Benevento deserve to be explored for their artistic beauty and via Nicola Sala 31 scenery. It is rich with the memory of the ancient tel. 0824 319911/319938 www.eptbenevento.it peoples that have flourished here: Greeks and Samnites, Romans and Longobards. Ente Parco Regionale The historic value and the natural beauty make a del Taburno-Camposauro visit to this land a unique experience. Piazza Mercato 2 The extraordinary local cuisine is also unique, Frasso Telesino tel. 0824 973061 deeply rooted in the tradition of genuine products www.parcotaburno.it and age-old recipes. In Sannio there are numerous agritourism structures and inns of all levels where Benevento the many delicacies of the area can be savoured, Museo Provinciale del Sannio meeting the demands of even the most demanding chiesa di S. Sofia piazza S. Sofia gourmet. tel. 0824 21818 Festivals and feasts animate this area year-round in Museo Diocesano places like Solopaca, which lends its name to the piazza Orsini famous local Doc wine, and San Marco dei Cavoti, tel. 0824 42825 Teatro Romano home of the crunchy torrone. piazza P. Telesino tel. 0824 47213 Cerreto Sannita Museo Civico e della Ceramica - corso Umberto I tel. 0824 815211 Pietraroja Parco Geopaleontologico (Paleo-Lab) To book visits please contact Agenzia “Art Sannio Campania” tel. 0824 21079 or the Municipality of Pietraroja tel. 0824 868000 View of Sannio famous travellers On the way there I tried to persuade the coachman to show me the place where the walnut tree stood, beneath which the witches gathered to celebrate their sabbath. At first he was evasive, saying he knew of no such place, but in the end he admitted that many old women of the neighbourhood knew all about the walnut tree, and that friends of his had actually heard witches flying past on their broomsticks. Henry Swinburne, 1783 Generale_INGL 25-03-2008 13:28 Pagina 140 not to be missed sannio in 1 day sannio in 3 days shopping outings with children Trajan’s Arch, Benevento Benevento Benevento Torrone from Benevento Trajan’s Arch (Benevento) Geopaleontological Park Santa Sofia Church, Benevento Sant’Agata dei Goti Sant’Agata dei Goti and San Marco dei Cavoti Montesarchio Castle of Pietraroja Sant’Agata dei Goti Cerreto Sannita Liqueur Butterfly Collection “Dinosaur Park” Cerreto Sannita Montesarchio Wines at the Medieval Castle at San Lorenzello Guardia Sanframondi Solopaca (Guardia Sanframondi) Geopaleontological Park Guardia Sanframondi Tower Clock Museum of Pietraroja San Lorenzello (San Marco dei Cavoti) 140 141 events March August-September _Antiques Market (Last _Sannio Wine and Music Sunday of the month) Festival Benevento Torre Gaia di Dugenta April September _Festival of Typical Products _Benevento, Performance Cusano Mutri Town _ 'White Night of Roots' May Benevento _ Strega Prize _Falanghina Felix Benevento _Annurca Apple Review Sant’Agata dei Goti June _Days in the Village _Cherry Festival Borgo S. Francesco - Sant’Agata dei Goti Fontanelle Montesarchio July _Boletus Mushroom _Telesia Film Festival Festival Telese Thermal Baths, Antiche Cusano Mutri Terme Jacobelli _ Grape Festival _ 'Resonant Colours' Solopaca Molinara _Six Days Sonic Madness December Guardia Sanframondi _Crib within the Crib _Ceppaloni Jazz&Blues Morcone Festival _Living Crib Ceppaloni Pietrelcina _'Four Nights…plus of Full Moon' Benevento August _Fate Festival Art, music and film San Potito Sannitico _Vinalia Guardia Sanframondi _Wine Festival Castelvenere Lake Telese art and archaeology nature and parks for young people specialities spas and fitness Trajan’s Arch (Benevento) Taburno-Camposauro Natural Benevento Walnut liqueur “Nocino” wines San Salvatore Telesino Santa Sofia Church Regional Park Geopaleontological Park Strega Liqueur Guardiolo Doc Telese Thermal Baths (Benevento) Partenio Natural Regional Park of Pietraroja Colline Beneventane Sannio Doc Sannio Museum (Benevento) Geopaleontological Park Extravirgin olive oil Solopaca Doc Roman Theatre (Benevento) of Pietraroja Laticauda Sannita cheese Taburno Doc Sant’Agata dei Goti Ham from Pietraroja Telesia Torrone from Benevento and San Marco dei Cavoti Generale_INGL 25-03-2008 13:28 Pagina 142 Benevento famous travellers We touched the via Appia, the most beautiful of the ancient roads… from where we were it points straight to Benevento, and goes on to die in Brindisi; this is the road that Horace followed in his poetic journey. Alexandre Dumas 142 143 Benevento, legendary “city of the witches”, is the The Provicial Museum of Sannio is found in the repository of ancient memories. monastery of Santa Sofia, one of the most important The Samnite city of Maloentum was re-baptised by in Campania. The archaeological section has pre- the Romans Beneventum in honour of the victory historic relics, Greek and Italic ceramics, Egyptian over the King of the Elpiro, Pirro. The Longobards statues from a temple dedicated to Isis, and also passed by, as did the Angioines and the Hellenistic-Roman statues, as well as a coin Papists. This land held tenaciously on to its collection that extends from Magna Grecia to the character throughout; dating back to perhaps the Duchy of Benevento. The medieval section is also ancient Samnite warriors, the only ones to resist the very rich, with jewelry, weapons, tools and superpower of the Roman legions. Taken by the sculptures, not to mention the paintings dating from Goths in 490 AD, Benevento fell to the Longobards the Baroque to the 1900’s. The history section in 571, who then founded the duchy. After the year recalls the events and traditions of Sannio, and is 1,000, it became a Papal city and remained part of housed in the magnificent Rocca dei Rettori, a the Papal State until the Unification of Italy. castle built in 1321. In the lower part of the Palazzo di Prefettura, in the heart of the city, is the Arcos The symbol of the City is the Trajan Arch, erected at Museum “Arte Contemporanea Sannio”; in the the start of the Trajan Road (via Traiana) on the garden of the former convent of San Domenico is Benevento-Brindisi tract. It is 15 meters high and the Hortus Conclusus, an ensemble of sculptures has miraculously survived intact, rich with its by Mimmo Paladino that evokes mythical times. sculpted decorations, commemorating the glorious Benevento Città Spettacolo (City of Events): musical feats of the Emperor. Roman memories are also alive events, prose, dance, exhibitions, conventions, and in the imposing Theatre (2nd century AD), that is workshops organised in the historical venues of the the summer venue for concerts and shows. City. The Cathedral, founded in the Longobardian era (7th century) and later completely restructured, retains the façade and the belltower from the original structure. The most evocative monument is the Santa Sofia Church, a masterpiece of the Middle Ages. Founded in the 8th century by the Longobards, it has an usual plan, accentuated by pillars and columns (of Roman origin) and characterised by the intricate design of the vault and arches. The cloister is magnificent and dates back to the 12th century. met before they took off in chocolate is a specialty of boasts two Dop olive oils: Trajan Arch flight on their broomsticks. San Marco dei Cavoti. The the “Sannio Caudino Hortus The witch, in beneventan liqueurs of Benevento are Telesino” and “Colline Conclusus by “janara”, is one of the last also well known: the 1800’s Beneventane”. Among the Mimmo the witches remaining figures of rural typical products Strega (witch), also the various cheeses and cured Paladino paganism: the legend of the name of a celebrated literary meats is the prized of Benevento Santa Sofia witches also recalls the prize, and the Nocino, Pecorino di Lauticada Church The legend reads that there tragic persecution of “wise” The torrone of Benevento prepared with the prized (a breed of sheep) and the was a centuries old walnut women. has been known since walnuts of Benevento Prosciutto of Pietraroja. tree near Benevento, under Roman times. That hard picked on the day of San whose branches the witches crispy interior covered in Giovanni. The area also Generale_INGL 25-03-2008 13:28 Pagina 144 The Caudina Valley famous travellers Aglianico wine comes from the Kingdom of Naples, where they make a good Greco. Sante Lancerio (butler to Pope Paul III), 1559 144 145 In the Caudina Valley, near Arpaia, one finds the Montesarchio, the ancient Caudium, is a famous Sant’Agata Caudin Forks pass, where the Romans suffered Samnite centre, with a Castle from the XV century. dei Goti a humiliating defeat by the Samnites in 321 BC. In the Bourbon period the Rocca (fortress) was Morcone The most important village is Sant’Agata dei Goti. a political prison, where Peorio, Nisco and Perched on a tuff ridge between two rivers, with a other patriotes of the Italian Risorgimento were beautiful view, this village has maintained its charm imprisoned. over the centuries. Vitulano is the starting point for excursions in the Taburno-Camposauro Regional Park. The hermitage It stands on the remains of ancient Saticula, a Samnite of San Menna and the complex of the Holy Trinity village which later became a Roman colony. The current (mid XVI century), with a Vanvitelli style bell tower, name stems from the VI century AD, when a colony of are open to the public. A little further on is Goths settled. Strolling through the streets of the old Solopaca, the most important wine centre of the centre, between churches, monasteries and noble palaces, one enters in a world where time has stopped.