Morcone

Morcone sits in northern Benevento province, at the point where the Tammaro valley meets the rise of the Matese massif toward the Molise border. The site began as Mucrae, a stronghold of the Sanniti Pentri, then passed to Rome after the Sannite Wars. In 776 AD it became a Lombard gastaldate within the Duchy of Benevento, and it was fortified again in the 11th and 12th centuries, holding a trade route that ran between Benevento, Molise and Puglia.

The town's built form still tracks that layered history. The oldest stone sits under the castle at the top of the hill. Around and below it, the centro storico steps down in five concentric rings, houses of white limestone linked by stairs and covered passages, with small shrines set at the turns. The convent keeps to the lower slope, apart from the ringed streets, founded in 1603 and later the place where a Capuchin novice completed his vows. The town reads, top to bottom, as a section through its own past: summit fortification, ringed medieval core, convent below.