ITALY – Molise 2023

AN UNDISCOVERED GEM

Italy, Molise

“Molise is a mountainous region with a wealth of little gems scattered all over the territory, often in the most unexpected places or hidden in nearly inaccessible mountain villages, at the end of scenic, but challenging roads. All of this, of course, makes it a paradise for travelers wishing to explore Italy on an offbeat road trip.”

The Rural Village Stay “le Sette Querce”

11-day tour
October 4th – 14th, 2023 – $4800 all inclusive

Day one: Departure from the USA (Las Vegas or other major USA city)

Day two: Welcome aperitif, dinner

Arrival at Rome Fiumicino airport. Transfer to the structure Rural village “le Sette Querce”

Check in, welcome aperitif with wines and local products. Visit the village on the carriage pulled by donkeys.

Dinner with products of the territory and traditional recipes. Entertainment

Day three: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

San Vincenzo al Volturno is one of the most important abbeys in Europe from the time of Charlemagne. We will visit the remains of the churches, refectory, kitchens, guesthouse, and major basilica of the 9th century. On the site, in the crypt of Epiphanius (visible only to small groups) there is also one of the most important pictorial cycles of the whole early Middle Ages linked to the figure of Mary.

Dating back to the twelfth century is instead the so-called New Abbey where still today, in continuity with the medieval monastic tradition, a Benedictine community operates.

Scapoli is a village of bagpipe builders. A town of medieval origin that preserves in its ancient urban nucleus a museum dedicated to the bag aerophone with a collection of instruments from all over the world. During our visit we will have the opportunity to visit the artisan workshop of a master conductor.

Rocchetta a Volturno – Visit to the International Museum of the World Wars. One of the largest museums in Italy for the number of exhibits, dedicated to the First and Second World Wars, born of the passion of the two directors in the territory where the Italian Liberation Corps was born.

Return to the hotel, dinner, entertainment

Day four: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

After breakfast departure to the Sacred Complex of the fourth century BC. built at 950 m above sea level, by the Samnite people. Pietrabbondante with temples, theater, craft shops, and domus publica was the place where the entire Samnite population gathered to plan military strategies against the Romans.

Continue to Agnone. The settlement of Lombard origin and great center of craft activities in the twelfth century with the presence of Venetian artists and artisans who came in the wake of the Borrello family.

Among these, the Marinelli family, founder, and owner of the thousand-year-old bell foundry that since 1924, with Pius XI, was portrayed by the Papal Coat of Arms. We will visit the museum and the pontifical foundry.

The day will continue with a walk in the historic center towards the Venetian district with a visit to the Emidiana Library at the church of Saint Emidio

The visit ends at the Di Nucci dairy, a national and international award-winning company to learn about the techniques for making the famous caciocavallo (CHEESE) from Alto Molise

Return to the hotel, dinner, entertainment

Day five: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Pompeii

Pompeii is one of the most visited archaeological sites in the world. We will visit the Roman city covered with the ashes of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. to learn about the life of the Romans of that era, through streets, fountains, houses, baths, taverns. We will visit the Forum, the Temple of Apollo, the great Amphitheater, the oldest stone construction ever discovered, home to bloody battles between gladiators, the wonderful House of the Faun, an ancient villa of over 3000 square meters, one of the oldest and most majestic houses in the city.

Naples-The Neapolitan subsoil (weather permitting). A network of tunnels and underground tanks of over 2,000,000 square meters used during the Second World War as a refuge from the disastrous bombings. The first artifacts date back to about 5,000 years ago. Subsequently, in the third century B.C, the Greeks opened the first underground quarries to obtain the blocks of tuff necessary to construct the walls and temples of their Neapolis and dug a series of funerary hypogea. The impressive development of the underground network began in Roman times with a complex network of aqueducts.

A walk in the historic center and dinner with Neapolitan pizza.

One of the oldest cities in Europe, whose historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Through the squares and narrow streets of the historic center, in a picturesque and timeless atmosphere you will fall in love with this pearl of the Mediterranean.

Return to the hotel, dinner, entertainment

Day six: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Isernia – Explore the historic center of Isernia “the first capital of Italy” to admire the signs of its evolution in history. The remains of the sacred area, below the neoclassical cathedral dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle, tell the religion, society, and politics of almost two thousand and five hundred years ago.

Visit to the Paleolithic Museum of Isernia – the pine forest dating back to 600,000 years ago where there is the oldest human find in Europe.

Sepino – The city was born after the Romans conquered the ancient settlement of Terravecchia, in the third century B.C. and built a new center in a strategic place on the plain.

The ancient city enclosed by a wall and four doors, saw its apogee in the Augustan age when it was equipped with the Forum, the thermal baths, the basilica, and the wonderful theater.

Saepinum saw the abandonment of its most important buildings and the shrinkage of the inhabited area in the 6th century AD. up to the total abandonment in favor of a more protected and defensible position on high ground in the early Middle Ages.

Today Saepinum shows the whole urban structure of an intact Roman city, so complete that it deserves the nickname of “Little Pompeii”.

Return to the hotel, dinner, entertainment

Day seven: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Caserta, the Royal Palace the “little Versailles of the Kingdom of Naples” last great jewel of the Italian Baroque, built at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries at the behest of the royal family of the Bourbons of Naples and designed by the architect Luigi Vanvitelli.

Grand, imposing, extraordinary in its beauty and richness so much to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an unmissable destination for anyone visiting Campania.

The visit itinerary includes the monumental Royal Palace with the Hall of Halberdiers and the Hall of the Bodyguards, the Hall of Alexander and the Hall of Mars, the Hall of Astrea, the Throne Room and the Council Room. In addition, of course, to the apartments of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Palatine Library, the beautiful Hall of the crib, the Royal Hall, the Vestibule, and the famous Palatine Chapel. The wonderful Garden Park of the Royal Palace, one of the most beautiful in Europe with panoramic views, water games, waterfalls and cascades, sculptures, caves and monumental fountains.

Return to the hotel, dinner

Day eight: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Larino – The ancient Larinum, a Roman municipality, extended over a large fertile area that overlooked the valley floor of the lower course of the Biferno river. It was also located at the center of important roads that allowed its rapid development thanks to the numerous and profitable commercial exchanges. Visit to the forum, the amphitheater, the baths, the domus.

In Larino, an oil production company of the famous and excellent variety of extra virgin olive oil “Gentile di Larino” will be visited. The entire production chain will be shown with a visit to the olive grove, a description of the harvesting techniques, a visit to the oil mill and the packaging laboratory. Followed by the tasting of oil with organic products grown in the garden of the owners of the company.

Cooking Class – Italy is famous in the world for its beautiful landscapes, historical, artistic, but also for the flavors of its table. Pasta, bread, pizza are the excellences that best represent it in the world. A chef will teach you how to make homemade bread following the ancient recipes of the local tradition.

Return to the hotel, dinner, entertainment

Day nine: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Montecassino

The monastery is the cradle of Western monasticism and a place of worship visited by thousands of visitors. Montecassino is also known for the tragic events of World War II. On February 15, 1944, 500 tons of bombs were dropped on the abbey and the building was razed to the ground

Roccapipirozzi

The village of Roccapipirozzi is of medieval origin and the signs of the architecture built for defensive purposes are still clearly visible. The fortress has an articulated and irregular plan, conditioned by the natural course of the spur of the fortress on which an ancient cylindrical tower is developed and preserved, which is part of a larger structure relating to the feudal lord’s dwelling. In the village a redevelopment project is underway with the construction of 80 rooms, museums, craft shops and various commercial activities. Everything is designed with respect for the traditions of the place and in the use of ancient materials

Return to the hotel, dinner, entertainment

Day ten: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Venafro

Ancient city of Roman origin that had numerous and valuable remains of this era in its historic center: the theater, the amphitheater, the numerous inscriptions and sculptures incinto the buildings.

We will visit the Pandone castle with the marvelous sixteenth-century frescoes created by Enrico Pandone, lord of the city, with horses in low-level life-size.

Venafro is also the city of oil, the most famous and expensive in the whole Roman Empire. To praise the quality of the precious Venafrano oil were Cato, Orazio, Plinio, Giovenale. The tour includes a short visit to the historic olive tree regional park and a course of extra virgin olive oil tasters.

Monteroduni

Molise is also a land of grapes, almonds, hazelnuts. We will visit, with tasting, the Valerio Winery to learn about the DOC wines of the Region combined with the flavors of the territory and the Papa Chocolate factory, famous in Italy and in the world.

Return to the hotel, dinner and entertainment.

Day eleven: Return to USA

Breakfast\Transfer to Rome Fiumicino airport

Price $4, 800 Includes:

English speaking tour guides

Flight from Las Vegas or other Major USA airport to Rome/return to USA

Transfers (airport to hotel/hotel to airport)

9 nights stay at The Rural Village “le Sette Querce”

Welcome reception/donkey cart ride

Breakfasts, lunches, and dinners (wine, mineral water)

Entertainment

All entrances to sites

English speaking our guides

Tour bus

Cooking class

Oil tasting

Wine tasting

Cheese tasting