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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Gallo Matese, the lake

In the municipality of Gallo Matese, there is an artificial compensation lake, whose waters are used to power the ENEL hydroelectric plant of Capriati in Volturno. With an iridescent green/blue color and 19 million cubic meters of water, it is a destination above all for carp fishing enthusiasts, a type of sport fishing widely practiced in recent years, and for those who practice canoeing and trekking.

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.

Teano, frazione Casi, panorama

Teano. Church of Sant'Antonio Abate

Teano. Church of San Francesco.

Built in the fourteenth century, in Gothic style, by the Conventual Minors it was extensively remodeled in the Baroque age. The magnificent gilded wooden ceiling with one hundred finely carved coffers, with outlines decorated with wreaths of painted roses, for the splendor of the gilded mass wins the comparison with many other similar works. The panel in the center of the ceiling (St. Francis and the council), in which the popes Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI and the late bishop of Teano Mons. Sperandeo are depicted, is a modern work by Augusto De Rose. On the entrance door there is a large canvas of the Immaculate Conception by Girolamo Cenatiempo (first half of the 18th century).

Teano, Campania. View of the historic center.

Town of pre-Roman origins, located on the slopes of the volcanic massif of Roccamonfina.

Casertavecchia, church of the Annunciation

Borgonuovo. Teano

Borgonuovo di Teano, Campania. Sanctuary of Maria Santissima della Libera

Teano. Church of Sant’Agostino

Teano, the Cathedral of San Clemente.

The cathedral of San Clemente is the main place of worship in the city of Teano, in Campania, and the seat of the diocese of Teano-Calvi

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