
Molise · Campobasso
Ripalimosani
A sandstone-ridge village at 640 meters above the Biferno valley, the historic land of the funai rope makers and a Tintilia wine commune.
Known for
FUNAI
Historic rope-maker town: between the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a small industry of hemp cordage worked the ridge.
TINTILIA
One of the surviving Molise communes for Tintilia, the region's only indigenous red grape, DOC since 2011.
CONVENTO CELESTINO
Celestine convent on the edge of the borgo, the local trace of Pope Celestine V's hermit order in inner Molise.
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: Michele, 29 September
Why come
Ripalimosani sits at 640 meters on a sandstone ridge above the Biferno valley, six kilometers north of Campobasso. The village is historically defined as la terra dei funai, the land of the rope makers: between the nineteenth century and the early twentieth a small industry of hemp cordage flourished here, the long ropewalks laid out along the ridge above the valley. The Tintilia grape, the only indigenous red grape of Molise and a DOC since 2011, has its surviving vineyards in the hills around Campobasso, Ferrazzano, Cercemaggiore and Ripalimosani; one of the region's organic Tintilia producers, Agricola Vinica, works the slopes below the village.
The centro storico is stone, the mother church is Santa Maria Assunta, and the Convento di San Pietro Celestino sits on the edge of the borgo. Ripalimosani holds Borghi Autentici and Città del Vino at once, a combination it shares with few of its size in Molise.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Ripalimosani’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.


What to see
Centro storico
Stone village on a sandstone ridge above the Biferno, with the historic ropewalks of the funai still legible in the long, narrow back streets.
Chiesa Madre Santa Maria Assunta
Mother church of the village, central piazza, the historic parish around which the borgo grew through the nineteenth century.
Convento di San Pietro Celestino
Celestine convent on the edge of the borgo, named for the hermit pope and a quiet survival of the order's Molise presence.
Vigne di Tintilia
Surviving vineyards of Molise's only indigenous red grape, worked on the slopes below the village by organic producer Agricola Vinica.
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Living here
- Population 3,019
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Naples / Salerno, 2 h 29 min drive
- Regional capital Campobasso, 13 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 640 m
- Population: 3,019
- Surface area: 33.83 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.
Close by
More towns near Ripalimosani

Campobasso
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Molise's regional capital and the smallest in Italy, 47,000 residents at 701m on a wooded Apennine ridge, with a centro storico that climbs the hillside in stone-paved switchbacks.

Ferrazzano
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A hilltop borgo at 872 meters above Campobasso, called the Sentinel of Molise, where Robert De Niro's great-grandparents lived before sailing in 1887.

Oratino
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A stonemason borgo at 780 meters above the Biferno, with a square tower on a limestone spur that an earthquake in 1456 left standing alone.

Civitacampomarano
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The Molisan ghost-borgo of 302 residents that turned its abandoned centro storico into an open-air street-art village.

Sepino
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A hilltop borgo at 698 meters at the foot of the Matese, two kilometers above the Roman Saepinum, the open-air city the sheep tracks built.
💎 Borghi Autentici
More Borghi Autentici towns in Molise

Capracotta
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At 1,421 meters the second-highest commune in central Italy, holder of the world record for snowfall in 24 hours: 2.56 meters on 5 March 2015.

Castel del Giudice
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Macchiagodena
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Molise's white truffle capital: a 1,648-resident hilltop borgo at 868m in the Apennine middle Molise, with intact medieval streets and 30+ active truffle hunters working the surrounding oak forests, the Molise white truffle harvest running October-December.

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

Pizzone
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