Pescolanciano

The first inhabited place of Pescolanciano dates back probably to the 10th century, when all the territory of the Molise underwent initiatives of the laic and ecclesiastical aristocracy of Benevento. In the principal points of the zone, they founded some villages with military functions in order to control and exploit the territory. The first historical news mentioning a proper castle date back to 1223, when Frederick II of Swabia ordered Ruggero di Peschio-Longiano, feudatory of Pescolanciano, to organize an expedition in order to demolish the castle of Carpinone. When Giovanni d’Alessandro reigned (1574-1654), the castle looked like an articulated structure in separated factory bodies: a donjon on the east and close to it a cylindrical tower, a little church and a fortified structure with battlements towards south-east. The whole complex was surrounded by a boundary wall extended along the rocky spur. In the 17th century the castle looked like the present fortified residence, in which the annexes overlook a yard and at its entrance was built “the guard-room” adorned with a balcony decorated with arabesque motives. In 1691, the Duke Giuseppe made built the draw-bridge, which made harder the entrance in the castle and subsequently the quadrangular body of the building leaning out towards North with the function of belvedere terrace, re-designed in 1800. The ducal castle houses inside a noble chapel completed in 1628 as the inscription on the entrance portal says. Inside there are two altars in Neapolitan baroque style, inlaid with coloured marbles. In the 18th century the D’Alessandro’s built in Pescolanciano a pottery factory where people trained in the royal factory of Capodimonte worked. At the present time the castle belongs to the D’Alessandro’s except some rooms bought in 1998 by the Province of Isernia.