Matese Regional Park - Miralago

2018

The Matese regional park is a protected natural area in Campania. Established with regional law n. 33 of 1993 came into operation only in 2002. The park covers an area of 33,326.53 hectares. The Matese park was established with the Campania regional law n. 33 of 1 September 1993 entitled "Establishment of parks and nature reserves in Campania". Due to the lack of approval of the implementing rules of regional law n. 33 of 1993, the park came into operation only in 2002. The reference standard is the resolution of the Campania Regional Council no. 1407 of 12 April 2002. Since 2006, the Matese Regional Park Authority has been based in San Potito Sannitico, in the province of Caserta. The park's first president was Giuseppe Scialla, a university professor and environmentalist. Following the revision of the Italian budget law 2018, the rule was approved that contemplates the future transformation of the Matese park into a national park, with probable involvement of the provinces of Isernia and Campobasso. The territory of the park mainly includes the Matese mountain massif. The highest mountains, of limestone nature, are Mount Mutria, Mount Gallinola and Mount Miletto. The park takes its name from the Matese lake. Another important lake is that of Letino. The park is crossed by two important rivers: the Titerno river and the Tammaro river. The vegetation of the Matese massif is made up, in the lower area, of holm oaks, hornbeams, strawberry trees and other elements typical of the Mediterranean scrub; as you go up, these species are first replaced by Turkey oak and chestnut and by majestic and imposing beech trees. Here and there you can find wild rowan, maple, dogwood, ash, ash and silver fir. Among the numerous herbaceous plants of the clearings and the undergrowth we note the gentian, the foxglove and above all the omnipresent Sambucus ebulus, the most characteristic plant that accompanies the beech forest in the most open and luminous open spaces. The fauna of the massif is also very rich due to the presence of the three lakes (del Matese, di Gallo, di Letino). In addition to the typical species of the broad-leaved forest (fox, marmot, badger, dormouse, great spotted woodpecker, tordella, jay, owl) there are also species of more open environments, such as hare and wild boar, or bare rocky crags such as the black redstart and the rare rock partridge. Among the exceptional presences we find the golden eagle that nests in the steep rocky walls of Valle dell'Inferno, but above all that of the wolf, regularly sighted in the municipalities of Letino and Gallo Matese. The presence of the lakes also favors the settlement of coots and ducks, herons and even storks. In the waters of these reservoirs we find carp, tench, perch, eel and pike, the three last species introduced by man.

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Teano. The Cathedral. The central nave

The cathedral, originally dedicated to San Terenziano, was later named after San Clemente. Construction began in 1050 by Bishop Guglielmo, to replace the old cathedral of San Paride ad Fontem, located outside the city walls. The works were completed in 1116 by Bishop Pandulfo. The building has a basilica structure divided into three naves by two rows of columns. In 1608 it was damaged internally by a fire that almost completely destroyed the cosmates ambo, subsequently recomposed using the remains of the previous one integrated with the marble slabs of a fourteenth-century sepulchral monument already present in the church and positioned on twisted columns, two of which rested on fountain lions. During the 16th century the Romanesque apse was modified and on that occasion a precious carved wooden choir was built in the presbytery, built in 1539 by the Benedictine Antonio Maria Sertorio. The choir underwent two restorations, the first in the 17th century and the second in 1957, following the damage suffered during the Second World War.

Caserta, the Royal Palace. The English Garden.

The Royal Palace of Caserta is a royal residence, historically belonging to the Bourbons of the Two Sicilies, located in Caserta. Commissioned by Charles of Bourbon, the laying of the first stone, which started the construction work, took place on January 20, 1752, based on a project by Luigi Vanvitelli: this was followed by his son Carlo and other architects. The palace was completed in 1845.

Teano. The Dome. The Chapel of San Paride

The cathedral, originally dedicated to San Terenziano, was later named after San Clemente. Construction began in 1050 by Bishop Guglielmo, to replace the old cathedral of San Paride ad Fontem, located outside the city walls. The works were completed in 1116 by Bishop Pandulfo. The building has a basilica structure divided into three naves by two rows of columns. In 1608 it was damaged internally by a fire that almost completely destroyed the cosmates ambo, subsequently recomposed using the remains of the previous one integrated with the marble slabs of a fourteenth-century sepulchral monument already present in the church and positioned on twisted columns, two of which rested on fountain lions. During the 16th century the Romanesque apse was modified and on that occasion a precious carved wooden choir was built in the presbytery, built in 1539 by the Benedictine Antonio Maria Sertorio. The choir underwent two restorations, the first in the 17th century and the second in 1957, following the damage suffered during the Second World War.

Ancient Campania (often also identified as Campania Felix or even Ager Campanus) originally indicated the territory of the city of Capua Antica in the Roman period, and later also the plains of the various neighboring municipalities. It was a very vast territory when compared with the other Italic cities of the Roman and pre-Roman periods. It stretched from the slopes of Mount Massico (in the north) to the south of the Phlegrean Fields and the Vesuvian area. Initially it also included the ager Falernus, then it was greatly scaled down from Rome due to the alliance of the city of Capua with Annibale. Thanks to the fertility of the soil also due to the presence of the Volturno river, it deserved the name of Campania Felix.

Pietrelcina (BN), church of Santa Maria degli Angeli

Santa Maria degli Angeli, parish church of Pietrelcina, preserves the polychrome wooden statue of the Neapolitan school of the end of the seventeenth century depicting the Madonna della Libera, patron saint of Pietrelcina, which Padre Pio affectionately calls "our Madonnella". In this church Fra Pio began his apostolate and, having obtained the diaconate, he administered the first baptism to a child who later became a Redemptorist priest. In this regard it is said that Padre Pio put so much salt, that the newborn, opening his little mouth, squinted his eyes - "smerzava l`uocchie" - words of Brother Pio, who frightened ran to the archpriest Don Salvatore Pannullo, saying: " I killed the child ”. On the eve of the solemnity of the Assumption, on 14 August 1910, four days after being ordained a priest, Padre Pio celebrated his first mass. A few days later he wrote to Father Benedetto of San Marco in Lamis: "For several days I was a little sick; perhaps the main cause of this was the too much emotion to which the spirit has been subject in these days… my heart is overflowing with joy and it feels stronger and stronger to encounter any affliction, when it comes to pleasing Jesus ”. In this church Padre Pio had interminable moments of prayer and intimacy with God, ecstasy at the foot of the altar, and the mystical phenomenon of the fusion of hearts: "The heart of Jesus and mine, allow me the expression, were no longer two hearts that beat, but only one. My heart was gone, like a drop of water that gets lost in the sea ”. And again: "I feel everything burn without fire ... a thousand flames consume me, I feel I am dying continuously and still alive". Padre Pio celebrated masses in this church that were "too long" and "incomprehensible mystery" so much so that the guardian father had asked the parish priest to recall him in his mind, because in this way he would immediately obey him out of holy obedience.

Monumental Complex of San Leucio

The Belvedere of San Leucio is a monumental complex in that of Caserta, wanted by Charles of Bourbon, king of Naples and Sicily (and later king of Spain with the name of Charles III), which is considered, together with the Royal Palace of Caserta and all 'Vanvitelli Aqueduct, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Roccamonfina, sanctuary of Maria SS dei Lattani

The sanctuary of Maria Santissima dei Lattani is a Marian sanctuary located in the territory of the municipality of Roccamonfina, in Campania, the place of death of the bishop Giacinto Tamburini. The sanctuary was founded in 1430 by San Bernardino da Siena and San Giacomo della Marca, who had arrived there following the news of the discovery of a statue of the Virgin in the same or the previous year. A first rural chapel was built, then a first church, enlarged shortly after in its present form between 1448 and 1507. In 1446 Pope Eugene IV entrusted the convent, which had risen in the meantime, to the Franciscans. In March 1970 the sanctuary was elevated by Pope Paul VI to the dignity of a minor basilica. The buildings of the sanctuary open onto a large internal courtyard, opening onto the panorama. It is overlooked by the church, the convent and a building built at the time of its foundation, called "Protoconventino" or "hermitage of San Bernardino", recently restored in its original form. The facade of the church, preceded by a large porch with a round arch, preserves the original wooden door of 1507. The interior, with a single nave, divided into spans by pillars that support the cross vault with a lowered pointed arch, preserves 15th and 18th century frescoes and Gothic windows with polychrome stained glass. On the left opens the chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the Lattani, with a frescoed dome, which houses a statue of the Madonna and Child in basalt stone, covered with polychrome painting, perhaps attributable to the 9th century. The convent has a façade with arched portico and inside a rectangular cloister with pointed arches supported by small columns, of various shapes, on two floors. There are 17th century frescoes painted by his father Tommaso di Nola. The refectory opens onto the cloister. The so-called "Protoconventino" building overlooks the internal courtyard with a two-storey loggia, open to the valley with windows, the lower one decorated with a rose window. In the courtyard there is also a stone fountain and on the side facing the mountain a fifteenth-century fountain decorated in 1961 by a representation on colored ceramic.

Roccamonfina. The Sanctuary of Maria SS dei Lattani

The Sanctuary of Maria Santissima dei Lattani is a Marian sanctuary located in the territory of the municipality of Roccamonfina, in Campania.

Teano. Monastery of Santa Caterina

Sessa Aurunca (CE), the Cathedral

Construction was begun by probable workers of the Casauriense school (see portico of the abbey of S. Clemente a Casauria built between 1176 and 1180) in 1113, partly reusing materials from ancient Roman buildings, and consecrated in 1183; the current external appearance was achieved in the first half of the thirteenth century with the addition of the portico and the large window placed in the upper part of the facade. The interior, on the other hand, having eliminated the trussed ceiling already in the thirteenth century, remained Romanesque until the mid-eighteenth century when the bishop Francesco Caracciolo d'Altamura decided to modernize it according to the tastes and style of the time, namely the Baroque. In July 1929, Pope Pius XI elevated it to the dignity of a minor basilica.

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