Isernia

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Isernia, Italy is a town and comune (administrative unit) in the southern Italian region of Molise, and the capital of Isernia province. Image:Isernia.gif

Geography

Situated on a rocky crest rising from 350 m. to 475 m. between the Carpino and the Sorsi rivers, the road plan of Isernia still reflects the ancient structure of the Roman town, with a central wide street and side streets on both sides. It is now the capital city of the province of Isernia. It is at 41°46N, 14°14E and 423 m (1388 ft) above sea level. The comune has a total area of 68.74 sq. km, and a 2003 population of 21,300.

History

Isernia, a very ancient town in the region of Molise, lies on the side of a hill between two rivers: the "sorsi (Sordo)" and the Carpino. It's name dates back to the Indoeuropean root which means "water". In fact, Isernia is a town full of water and that explains the human presence since the remotest prehistory. One must certainly remember the date of the first settlement in Isernia and exactly in the primeval village of the "Pineta" dating about 700/800 thousand years ago: in that area the "Homo Aeserniensis" settlement has been found. Isernia keeps hidden within its depths the memories of its most distant past, except a little part of giant walls, the "spare work". With the name of Aesernia, it was the capital of the Samnites.

Without considering sannitic wars ( IV-III century B.C.), the town has been destroyed and reconstructed a dozen times. The first person who reduced Isernia into rubble - in 84 B.C. - was Silla who hated the local Sannitic tribes as much as Caton hated Carthage.

In 263 A.D. the Roman Empire established a colony in Isernia, a key communication center between Southern Italy and the inner Appennine Regions. During the Social War against Rome, the Italic League established their capital in Isernia after abandoning their previous capital Corfinio. Isernia was a Roman "municipium" and its inhabitants enjoyed Roman citizenship. Isernia was destroyed by the Saracens in 800, sacked by Marcovaldo, Count of Molise, in 1199, and set on fire in 1223 by the soldiers of Frederick II. In 1519 it was freed from feudal servitude by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and became a free city.

Earthquakes in 847, 1349, 1456 and 1805 caused massive destruction. During the Second World War, Allied air bombings in September 19430destroyed over half the city, killing one-third of the population.

Finally the Americans on the morning of 10th of September 1943, launched their bombs from B-17 planes over a crowded town on market day causing thousands of deaths. In the following weeks they came back twelve times without ever hitting their targets: the beautiful bridges of Isernia, Cardarelli bridge, towards Roma, and the big Santo Spirito bridge, then built entirely of iron, towards the internal area. All the bridges were vital to the Germans on retreat.

Although this town has been object of repeated destruction, Isernia preserves a large number of monuments of fairly good archaelogical interest. At first, we must make clear that the historical center still keeps intact the spare map structure of the Roman cities: in fact it represents the largest raced Marcelli street, around which there is an infinity of alleys and little spares, as for example, "Trento e Trieste" spares. The famous Fraterna Fountain is the main symbol in this town and it was built in the XIII century A.C. : it is made up of living- stone's slabs coming from ruined Roman monuments, while all the rest is a work of local masters, as it was built by the Rampini family in Isernia. We can learn from a tombstone set on a fountain's side that is composed of six arches leaned on differently sculptured pieces.

Capital city

Template:Disputed-section Isernia is the capital city of the province of Isernia, and a flourishing center of pasta makers, stone work, and embroidery crafts. The name of the town comes from the italic root "aiser" meaning "God"

Isernia La Pineta

Isernia is also known for the archaeological excavation located within it's borders, at Isernia La Pineta. Isernia La Pineta contains thousands of bones and stone tools covering 24,000 square yards. It was discovered in 1979, by an amateur naturalist noticed a bone sticking out of the side of a cut, created by the construction of the Napoli-Vasto motorway. The site was clearly created by humans, but its purpose is still unknown. The man who lived there was called "Homo Aeserniensis". Template:Ref

References

1. Template:Note Novaresio, Paolo (1996). The Explorers. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, NY ISBN 1-55670-495-X p. 14 "In 1979 an amateur naturalist was passing the construction site for the Napoli-Vasto motorway ... object protruding from a wall ... thousands of bones and stone tools piled up in an area of over 24,000 square yards. ... Evidence of human activity is incontrovertible"

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