Molise is very tied to the Marian cult, in fact in the region many churches are named after the Blessed Virgin Mary. Those who want to know and learn more about this cult can take a tour of the most significant shrines and religious buildings in the area, some are characterized by fascinating architecture, others by their history that takes us back centuries.
Among the most majestic architectures there is the Sanctuary of the Santissima Addolorata di Castelpetroso famous for the apparitions of Mary in 1888 to two shepherdesses in a town in the country. The building, compared to the Sacrada Familia in Barcelona, is built in neo-Gothic style and impresses with its slender structure and the white of its stones which make it emerge from the green of the surrounding woods. Equally important is the Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Canneto in Roccavivara dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries, but the place was already inhabited in much older times in fact, in the Canneto locality, finds of a Roman villa and a farm were found Roman times. A first place of worship was built after the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. and the current church with adjoining monastery was built by the Benedictine monks of San Vincenzo al Volturno and Montecassino.
Valuable Romanesque churches of Santa Maria della Strada built in Matrice in 1100 which features, on the capitals, Arab and Byzantine influences, the thirteenth-century Abbey of Santa Maria di Faifoli in Montagano, the church of San Giorgio Martire in Petrella Tifernina built around 1211.
Noteworthy are the imposing cathedrals such as the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and San Pardo in Larino dating back to the thirteenth century, the Cathedral of Santa Maria della Purificazione in Termoli built in 1037, the neoclassical Cathedral of Most Holy Trinity in Campobasso of sixteenth-century origins rebuilt, after a strong earthquake, in 1829, the Cathedral of San Pietro Apostolo in Isernia which stands on an ancient Italic pagan temple of the third century BC. Its construction began in 1349 but today’s appearance is the result of numerous interventions carried out after the numerous earthquakes and following renovation of the building.
Admire the Cathedral of Trivento dedicated to Saints Nazario, Celso and Vittore, built on the remains of a pagan Roman temple, the current building dates back to the 11th century but has undergone several renovations, particularly in the Baroque period and in the 18th century. Spectacular the crypt, the oldest part of the Cathedral of Trivento, datable to the XII century and dedicated to the martyr San Casto.