What is Pescopennataro known for?

Rare natural white-fir forest below the village, one of the most important high-altitude Abies alba woods in southern Italy. The paese della pietra: most buildings carved from local limestone by a stonemason school documented from the 1700s. Among the highest villages of Molise and one of the rare 1,000-meter-plus communes in the inner south of the country.

Where is Pescopennataro?

Pescopennataro is a comune in the province of Isernia, Molise region of Italy, about 98 kilometers from Pescara.

Molise · Isernia

Pescopennataro

An Alto Molise stone village at 1,190 meters, the paese della pietra e degli abeti, above a rare high-altitude white-fir forest.

1190m

Elevation

98 km / 61 mi

Nearest hub (Pescara)

239

Population

Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi Autentici

Why come

Pescopennataro sits at 1,190 meters in Alto Molise, twelve kilometers north of Capracotta on the same ridge above the Sangro valley. The village is nicknamed il paese della pietra e degli abeti, the village of stone and firs: most of its buildings are made from local stone and Pescopennataro carries a school of stonemasons and sculptors documented from the 1700s. Below the village, the Bosco degli Abeti Soprani is one of the most important high-altitude fir forests in southern Italy and one of the rare survivals of natural white fir, Abies alba, in the southern Apennines. The commune holds 239 residents and a single Borghi Autentici badge. The walking trails into the Abeti Soprani run north toward the Eremo di San Luca, a small hermitage in the forest; the same trails ski-tour in winter. Few inland villages in Molise sit higher.

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Gallery

10 photos · scroll →

Known for

Bosco degli Abeti Soprani
High-altitude white-fir forest below the village, one of the rare natural Abies alba survivals in the southern Apennines.
Centro storico
Tightly built stone village at 1,190 meters, with buildings carved from the local limestone by generations of village stonemasons.
Eremo di San Luca
Small forest hermitage on the trail north of the village, in the heart of the Abeti Soprani fir woods.
Scuola degli scalpellini
Stonemason tradition documented from the 1700s, visible in the lintels, balconies and church façades carved through the centro storico.

When to visit

Best months · Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

June through September is the summer season for Pescopennataro. The Abeti Soprani trails clear of snow by late May and the village fills again with emigrant families through August. December through March is the winter season: ski-touring on the trails through the firs, the village locked tight against the wind, the stove on. April, May, October and November are the cold shoulder months: many of the small trattorias close, snow lingers in the woods above 1,300 metres, and the road in from Capracotta is sometimes closed by ice. The stone of the village carries the cold; the firs below it carry the silence.