larino
 
 
 
Halfway between Campobasso and Térmoli, LARINO is considerably more attractive than most Molise towns, its medieval centre clasped in the valley, relatively untouched by the concrete and pace of the modern industrial town that supports it. The highlight is its cathedral, but there are also some minor Roman relics in its small museum and a neglected amphitheatre in the modern town.

To the left of the train station , Via Gramsci leads down to old Larino. The main street widens out at Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, backing onto which is the Palazzo Ducale , whose museum (Mon-Fri 8am-2pm & 3.30pm -6.30pm; free) contains large Roman mosaics and a hoard of coins. On Via Gramsci, about halfway between the station and the centro storico , there's a garden that also has Roman ruins, including capitals and columns, and a sacrificial altar called the Ara Frentana. Close by is the Duomo , built in the early fourteenth century just after the town had been flattened by an earthquake and sacked by the Saracens, with an intricately carved Gothic portal.

The oldest part of the town starts beyond the duomo, but, appealing as the houses and steep alleys are, it is the glimpses of centuries-old streetlife that are more memorable - women making lace and preparing vegetables outside their houses, while the kids play at their feet and the men do absolutely nothing unless they're boozing in the bar.

If you take a bus from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele to the upper city, you'll jump a couple of centuries in five minutes. Modern Larino is a bustling place, built on the site of the original Samnite/Roman town. The large and overgrown amphitheatre off Via Viadotto Frentano, visible only from the street (Tues-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 9am-1pm; free) gives some idea of the importance of early second-century BC Larinum, though apart from this the mosaic pavement off Viale Molise and a few fragments of walls, behind the Scuola Materna off Viale Giulio Cesare, are hardly sufficient clues to how Larino once looked. If you want to stay, the town's inexpensive hotel is in two parts: Campitello at Via Mazzini 9 and Campitelli 2 (tel 0874.822.666; L90,000-120,000/46.48-61.98) at Via Mazzini 16. Both are air-conditioned, are near the amphitheatre, and about a kilometre from the station.