Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful castles in Molise... #tuttitaly
The Quercus Cerris stands out in the middle of the oak woods that gave the name to Cerro al Volturno. The specification "al Volturno" was placed on distinguishing it from Cerro Tanagro and Cerro Veronese.
It was the Samnites who founded the town, and of which fortifications remain near Monte Santa Croce. However, we have the first historical information relating to Cerro only in the 10th century, when the abbot Roffredo di San Vincenzo sent a colony of peasants to Volturno to cultivate the lands.
Around 1000, a fence was built to store food products on the top of a mountain that controls the valley. And in 1400, Federico Pandone built a castle over it, to which he gave its name. For defensive purposes, French bombers were constructed later, consisting of rectangular openings that crossed the thickness of the walls in the towers on which the guns were positioned.
The central nucleus of the inhabited area develops around the rocky conformation dominated by the fortress. It is divided into two villages gathered around the churches of Santa Maria Assunta and San Pietro Apostolo.
The Church of Santa Maria Assunta is climbing towards the castle, which is also called Santa Maria del Castello. It dated back to the eleventh century and was restored in the fifteenth. It preserves a single nave environment with seventeenth-century altarpieces.
The Church of San Pietro Apostolo was built in 1318 in the lower part of the town. It preserves a single nave environment, plastered in white, with a barrel vault with lunettes, typical of the neoclassical style.
The Cerro al Volturno Castle is considered one of the most beautiful castles in Molise.
