Campochiaro, Province Campobasso, Molise, Italy

Small, picturesque town inside the Matese mountains, it was originally a Samnite center as documented by remains of huge pre-Roman walls on the hill of Civitavecchia, and by the many burial sites dating back to the 8th and 7th centuries BC. In the area called Civitella there are also traces of an ancient temple to Hercules, the semi-god deeply worshipped by the Samnite populations. Other burial sites in the area of Vicenne of the 6th and 7th centuries AD contain German weapons and also horse skeletons, and are to be connected to the Bulgarian knights who were sent by the Lombard king Grimoaldus to his son, the Duke of Benevento, who in his turn established with them a Countdom in Boiano. In the late Middle Ages it was under the D'Aquino family, the D'Alneto, Caraccioli, Pandone and Mormile, who were the last feudal lords.