Pizzone

Pizzone sits at 724 meters on the eastern flank of the range that closes the northern edge of Molise against the Abruzzo border. In 1990 the commune ceded part of its territory to the national park, together with Castel San Vincenzo, Rocchetta a Volturno, Filignano and Scapoli, adding high pasture and beech forest to what became the Mainarde sector. The karst plateau on Pizzone's own territory is one of the signature high meadows of the southern Apennines.

The Volturno springs at the foot of the range and the Rio Jemmare that crosses Pizzone feed the lake just below the village. The village itself is small, stone houses set on a ridge under the peaks, with the church at its centre. A few kilometers north stands the abbey of San Vincenzo al Volturno. Pizzone reads as a mountain edge settlement: its territory gave ground to the park and kept the high meadow, while the water descending from its slopes shapes the lake and the abbey site below.