Isernia

Isernia stands on a ridge between the rivers Sordo and Carpino, amid the hills and mountains of Molise. Its cathedral, dedicated to Saint Peter, occupies the site of an ancient temple. Beneath the church, remains of the older sanctuary bear witness to the long history of worship on this ground.

Earthquakes repeatedly damaged the cathedral. The shock of 1805 struck a wide area of Molise and brought serious destruction to Isernia. Bishop Diodato Gomez Cardosa oversaw the rebuilding of the church, which took on a new appearance in the nineteenth century. The ancient foundations remained beneath it, linking the later cathedral to the Roman town that had stood on the same ridge. Its history can still be read in the surviving layers of masonry.