Castelbottaccio, Province of Campobasso, Molise

Castelbottaccio is situated among beautiful hills near the Biferno river. A place of small industries and crafts in the past, such as a flour mill, a pasta factory, wool works and stone carving. It was the native town of a famous Molisano painter, Arnaldo De Lisio (1869-1949), who belonged to the Neapolitan school of the late 19th - early 20th century.

Info

Altitude: 618 m a.s.l.
Population: about 500 inhabitants
Zip/postal code: 86030
Dialing Area Code: +39 0874
Patron Saint: St. Oto, a local saint of the Frangipani family, celebrated on 31 July.

History

Belonging in the early Middle Ages to the Molise County, was for some time after that under the Marchisio family, then belonged to the Di Sangro, descendants of the Great Counts of the Marsi. In 1477 the fiefdom was given to Luigi Gesualdo Conte di Conza, who took his name from the castle of Gesualdo, iin the Province of Avellino.

Then in 1569 it passed to the Piscicelli family, and their creditors auctioned the fiefdom, which was obtained by Giambattista Ferri in 1655. In 1725 the lord was Domenico Cardone, originary of Atessa in Abruzzo, and his grandson Francesco Cardone married in 1781 Donna Olimpia Frangipane, daughter of the Duke of Mirabello, a very interesting figure who established around herself a court of artists and liberal thinkers, among them Vincenzo Cuoco from Civitacampomarano, Vincenzo Ricciardi from Palata, Costantino Le Maitre from Lupara, Giuseppe and Vincenzo Sanchez from Montefalcone, Nicola Bichisao, Domenico Di Gennaro and Scipione Vincelli from Casacalenda, Giovanni Belpusi from San Martino, Nicola Neri from Acquaviva Collecroce, Andrea Valiante from Jelsi and the Duke of Canzano.

What to see

Santa Maria delle Grazie, where the tradition say the body of Sant'Ottone was buried. Dating back to the year 1178, as can be read in an inscription in the stone, contains a fine statue of San Giuseppe by Giovannitti from Oratino and another of the Vergine delle Grazie.
Santa Giusta, a small chapel in the countryside, with a precious painting showing the "Madonna del Carmelo", by Arnaldo De Lisio.

Genealogy & Links

Surnames in Castelbottaccio.

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Provinces of Molise

Campobasso | Isernia

Surnames in the Provinces of Molise

Campobasso | Isernia

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