Epigrafe di epoca Romana nel Casale DI Guado San Nicola a Monteroduni, Podere della Cantina Campi Valerio di Isernia

HISTORY

Calidio and Fannia as narrated by Mary Beard

The archeological area of the Pineta di Isernia and the settlement of Guado San Nicola in Monteroduni are important archeological sites located in Italy, in the Molise region. The pine forest is a well-known nature reserve renowned for its archeological discoveries, while the Guado San Nicola settlement is a significant prehistoric site.

The Pineta di Isernia is famous for the discovery of human remains of the Homo erectus dating back to the Middle Paleolithic Age. It was an important site for anthropological studies, allowing scholars to better understand ancient human modes of settlement and evolution in Europe.

The Guado San Nicola settlement in Monteroduni is a prehistoric site dating back to the Lower and Middle Paleolithic Ages where numerous lithic tools, especially bifacial, were discovered.

Both these sites provide clearer insight into Paleolithic modes of settlement and fundamental information on human evolution, technologies and cultural habits of the ancient populations that inhabited the area millennia ago, testifying to the authentic vocation of this territory.

Today, through the enhancement of the many small vineyards that have been well preserved over time, new oenological horizons become apparent.

Both are considered sites of enormous archaelogical relevance for the study of human antiquity in Italy and Europe.

Guado San Nicola is the only vineyard globally that has been established on a Paleolithic site.

The Paleolithic Age, La Pineta pine forest and the Guado San Nicola Settlement

Paleolithic

Estate Guado San Nicola, Monteroduni

The stele was discovered during the 17th century thanks to a rough transcription in a paper conserved in the Municipal Library of Isernia. Discovered in the Trinità area of Macchia d’Isernia, the plaque and its bas-relief have undergone in depth studies by various experts, reconstructing the text which appears to be a humorous dialogue between an inn keeper and a customer, perhaps the first vignette in history, which is currently housed at the Louvre Museum.

The customer requests the bill: “Could I have the bill please?”

The inn keeper replies: “That’s one axis for a sextarius of wine, one axle for the bread and two axes for the filling (pulmentarioum).”

The customer accepts: “Very well”

The woman adds: “You still owe eight axes for the woman (puellam)”

The man: “Excellent!”

The landlady completes the bill by saying:

“You also owe two axes for the hay given to the mule”

The customer admits defeat and concludes:

“This mule will be my ruin!”

(ad factum dabi)”

(Freedmen)

The stele was commisioned for Lucius Calidius Eroticus and his wife Fannia Voluptas. The names of the deceased couple suggests they were freedmen: a former slave (Eroticus) of L. Calidius and a woman named Voluptas who was once a member of the Fannian gens. Surprisingly, rather than boasting of the couple’s devotion to one another and Voluptas’ virtues as a wife, or in her carreer, Erotico instead tells a joke in the form of a dialogue between an inn keeper (caupo) and a traveler who settles his bill before leaving with his mule.

The discovery of the stele of Calidius Eroticus is of extraordinary importance from an oenological point of view given the presence of the word ‘wine’ reported in the text dating back to the 1st century B.C.

Sant'Angelo Vineyard, Macchia d'Isernia

Stele of Lucius Calidius Eroticus and Fannia Voluptas

1st century B.C.

The Pignatelli family is one of the oldest and most important noble families in Italy, with a long history dating back to the Middle Ages. Originally from the Naples region, the family exerted significant political and cultural influence over the centuries.

Pignatelli Castle stands in a strategic position of control and defense on the upper valley of the Volturno river, alongside the Mainarde and Matese mountain ranges.

An uncontaminated natural heritage and a historical landscape full of cultural values and monuments which express the history and future of this ancient yet youthful land. The castle, with its powerful fortified structure has represented the centre of Monteroduni’s economic life over the centuries until it became the Renaissance residence for the Pignatelli family.

The Stately home, whose legendary Lombard origins are illustrated by the three pignatas depicted on the coat of arms has been at the forefront of the area’s history since the 17th century.

Monteroduni Castle, currently a popular tourist attraction, continues to watch over the Valley, as well as over the history of the Pignatelli family of which it is the emblem and custodian of ancient memories.

The Pignatelli family was the initial wine-making family in Molise, as shown by the numerous diplomas and certificates that the Valerio family guarded with fervor on the historic oil mill that belonged to Prince Pignatelli.

Monteroduni, Isernia

The Pignatelli family

1600

The correspondence discusses and testifies to the interest in Molise’s prehistoric past and exhibits the letters exchanged between the canonic Francesco Scioli and the renowned paleontologist Luigi Pigorini, founder and director of the Royal National Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum of Rome, who took up the first chair of palethnology in Italy.

Canon Scioli of Monteroduni, in his correspondence with Pigorini, demonstrates a deep commitment to the research of prehistoric findings in Molise: he describes discoveries such as lithic tombs, arrows, daggers and other artefacts associated with specific periods of the prehistoric age.

During their correspondence in 1882, Scioli mentioned the presence of volcanoes, a hypothesis veryfied by recent studies and via meticulous scientific investigation coordinated by professor Carlo Peretto of the University of Ferrara, confirming this volcanic presence and highlighting the relevance of Scioli’s observations and their importance in the context of modern research on the geology and history of the area.

This discovery demonstrates the region’s aptitude in yielding excellent produce, especially in the wine sector.

Estate Guado San Nicola, Monteroduni

Nineteenth century correspondence between

canon Scioli and Luigi Pirgorini

1800

prehistoric flint, archaeological find, archaeological excavations, monteroduni, isernia, molise, italy, paleolithic, isernia, the pine forest of isernia

stele, Lucius Calidius and Fannia Voluptas, vino, 1sr century b.c., inscription, mary beard

The Pignatelli family, isernia, monteroduni, molise, italia

dormant volcano, nineteenth century, map, letters, letters, Scioli, Luigi Pigorini

Wine, Pentro, molise, Molise wines, red wine, cult winery, fine wines

Mano che tiene un grappolo di una Tintilia in un vigneto di Campi Valerio a Monteroduni, Italia

inscription, 1836, monteroduni, Scioli, Valerio

Monteroduni, the wine's grower's Cooperative cellar, Isernia

In 1974 the new winery was inaugurated in the Località Selvotta, in the heart of the vineyards pertaining to the Pignatelli family estates, with the presence of the former Minister of Agriculture Giovanni Marcora.

At the time the winery produced wine for the entire Upper Volturno Valley and the province of Isernia.

The wine grower's Cooperative cellar

1974

Località Selvotta, Monteroduni

In 2007, Pentro DOC was bottled for the first time following the original attainment of the DOC designation in 1980.

First bottling of Pentro DOC

2007

Località Selvotta, Monteroduni

2004

In the Estate that once belonged to the Pignatelli family, and through the recovery of small scale viticulture, we have combined our passion for agriculture with the love for the territory, giving life to wine making that aims to enhance the autochthonous grape varieties of the Sannio Pentro area.

Today, through the valorisation of the many small vineyards that have been well preserved in time, a new oenological course based on tradition and technology has been created.

Località Selvotta, Monteroduni

CAMPI VALERIO

With the 2006 harvest intended for the Pentro production, it was marketed later that year as table wine. The attainment of the Pentro DOC designation was subsequently reclaimed with the 2007 harvest.

First harvest for the Pentro DOC

2006

Sant'Angelo Vineyard, Macchia d'Isernia

Guado San Nicola Estate, Monteroduni