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isernia |
| ISERNIA was severely damaged for the eighth time by an earthquake in
1984, but after a slow recovery it has rebuilt its commercial centre so
that it's now comparatively busy and bustling. Historically the city
hasn't had much luck: much of the centre was destroyed in a bombing raid
on September 10, 1943, and a monument to the 4000 who were killed - an
anguished nude ankle-deep in fractured tiles, bricks and gutters - is
the centrepiece of the square called, understandably, Piazza X Settembre.
Not surprisingly, not much of old Isernia survives. The city's main attraction is the Museo Nazionale della Pentria e Isernia (Tues-Sun 9am-1pm & 3-7pm; L4000/¬2.06), in the heart of the old town at Piazza Santa Maria 8. In 1979 local road-builders unearthed traces of a million-year-old village here, the most ancient signs of human life yet found in Europe. The exhibits are backed up by computer demonstrations in four languages, including English, which reconstruct the village and put the ancient civilization in context. Contrary to the misleading publicity, there were no human remains found, just weapons, traps, traces of pigment thought to have been used as body paint, and animal bones, laid out to create a solid platform on the marshy land for the village. Though unbeguiling in itself, Isernia can be a useful starting-point for exploring the rest of Molise: buses to local villages leave from Via XXIV Maggio, parallel with Corso Garibaldi, and longer-distance buses, including those to Rome and Naples, from outside the train station. The tourist office is at Via Farinacci 1 (Mon-Sat 8am-2pm; tel 0865.3992). You probably won't need to stay over, but if you do, Sayonara a three-star at Via G. Berti 131 (tel 0865.50.992; L60,000-90,000/¬30.99-46.48) is the only central hotel. Eating prospects are better: there's a good traditional restaurant, Taverna Maresca , in the old town on Corso Marcelli (closed Sun). If you're on a budget, their pasta-, bean- or polenta-based first courses are filling and cheap; if you're not, you can gorge yourself on roast kid or lamb cooked in various mysterious but delicious ways. |