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Stemma di Letino

Campania · Caserta

Letino

At 961 meters the highest commune in the province of Caserta, where in April 1877 anarchists declared a Republic of Letino in the village hall.

Known for

  • REPUBLIC OF LETINO

    Anarchist insurrection of April 1877, when Malatesta, Cafiero and the Matese Band declared King Victor Emanuel II deposed in the village hall.

  • FIUME LETE

    Karst river that rises at 1,028 meters in Campo delle Secine and disappears underground into the Grotte del Caùto cave system.

  • BANDIERA ARANCIONE

    Touring Club Italiano Orange Flag awarded in 2014, only the fifth commune in Campania to receive the quality-of-hospitality mark.

When to visit

Best · May–Oct

  • J
  • F
  • M
  • A
  • M
  • J
  • J
  • A
  • S
  • O
  • N
  • D
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

The festa: Giovanni Battista, domenica più vicina

Why come

Letino sits at 961 meters in the Matese, the highest commune in the province of Caserta, with its castle on a rock at roughly 1,200 meters and the artificial Lago di Letino just below. In April 1877 the Matese Band, anarchists led by Errico Malatesta and Carlo Cafiero with the Russian Stepniak and roughly thirty others, marched into the village during a council session, declared King Victor Emanuel II deposed, proclaimed the Republic of Letino, burned tax records in the square, distributed arms to peasants and ordered the lands divided. The insurrection lasted days.

The municipal museum keeps the local archive of the events. The Castle of Letino, hosting the Madonna del Castello sanctuary within seventeenth-century walls, stands above the town. The Lete river is born from a karst phenomenon at 1,028 meters in the locality of Campo delle Secine and disappears into the Grotte del Caùto, a cave system known since the 1920s. The Touring Club Italiano awarded the Orange Flag in 2014, only the fifth Campanian commune to receive it.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Letino’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

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Letino — photo 1
Letino — photo 2

What to see

  • Castello di Letino

    Castle on a rock above the village at roughly 1,200 meters, walls dating to the 1600s, hosting the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Castello.

  • Lago di Letino

    Artificial lake (also called Lago Caùto) of 1.1 km², built in the early 1900s for the Prata Sannita hydroelectric plant.

  • Grotte del Caùto

    Karst cave system carved by the Lete river, explored since the 1920s, with two parallel galleries averaging 89 meters apart.

  • Fiume Lete

    Karst-fed river that rises at Campo delle Secine (1,028 meters), runs above ground briefly, then descends into the Grotte del Caùto.

  • Museo dell'Internazionalismo Anarchico

    Permanent exhibition in the municipal building on the 1877 Matese Band insurrection, with local documents and press of the era.

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Living here

  • Population 631
  • Off the beaten pathi
  • Pharmacy: none mapped
  • Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
  • Nearest airport Naples / Salerno, 1 h 46 min drive
  • Regional capital Napoli, 1 h 50 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 961 m
  • Population: 631
  • Surface area: 31.59 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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