Home | Site Map | Search | Gambatesa is in the Province of Campobasso, Region of Molise, formerly Abruzzo e Molise

• A Brief History of Gambatesa (Cenni Storici)

• The Medieval Castle (Castello Medioevale)

• The Church of St. Nicholas (Chiesa di S. Nicola)

• The Cross of St. Nicholas (La Croce di S. Nicola)

• The Chapel-Sanctuary of Our Lady of Victory (Cappella-Santuario di Maria Santissima della Vittoria)

• Annual Cultural Events (Manifestazioni annuali turistico-culturali)

Source: Conception and text by Salvatore Abiuso, with the collaboration of Palmiro Di Maria. Published by the Agriculture and Crafts Bank of Gambatesa. Notes and strictly literal translation by Robert [Wesley] Angelo. The original Italian text: Testo italiano.

Related: other pages about Gambatesa on this Web site: Photographs, Histories, Biscotti.

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Historically it is certain that, in times before, within present township limits, of the inhabited built-up areas, there used to exist some areas dating back to the time of the Romans. Of this there is evidence in recovered coins, tombs and remains of walls from the Roman Age, as well as ruins and information from church sources regarding the villages of Chiusano, Salandra and Vipera. [Note 1]

The origin itself of the built-up area of Gambatesa lies in the time before the Lombard invasion. None-the-less, historical research has so far taken as its beginning the time in which the village assumed the name Gambatesa.

The fundamental part of the history of Gambatesa begins in the 13th century with Richard of Gambatesa (Riccardo da Gambatesa or di Gambatesa), right-hand man of the Angevin Court of Naples and of the Papal Court at Rome. Gifted with great diplomatic and military ability, Richard gained fame as a wise ruler and as a brave military leader, above all in the government and defense of Genoa against the assaults of the exiled Ghibellines headed by Cane della Scala, Marco Visconti of Milan, and by Castruccio Castrocani degli Antelminelli, Lord of Lucca. For these and for his other merits Richard of Gambatesa obtained from Robert of Anjou, King of Naples, not a few titles and fiefs.

Richard of Gambatesa, not having male heirs, but only two female (Sybil and Margaret), procured that his first grandson Riccardello, son of the said Sybil and of Giovanni Monforte, add to his paternal surname also that of Gambatesa, thus giving beginning to the new feudal lineage of Monforte-Gambatesa.

From the end of the 14th century through the whole of the 15th, history records no facts of particular importance. With the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples by the Court of Aragon, the fief of Gambatesa passed in 1484 to Andrea Di Capua, Duke of Termoli.

With the Di Capua, who adopted a liberal political line, began for Gambatesa a long period of relative peace, productiveness and well-being, during which there was a notable expansion of sheep farming both village-based (stabled) and migratory, which was accompanied by a large increase in population and in building. The good socio-economic situation favored the emergence of a few middle-class families. Among these the most fame was achieved, from the end of the 1500s to the beginning of the 1600s, by the Eustachio family, for its considerable activity carried out in the field of medicine and in that of the ecclesiastical-pastoral.

Ferrante Di Capua, Junior, Duke of Termoli, prior to 1583, sold Gambatesa to Francesco Lombardo, a landowner from Troia. [Note 2]

This period of growth was interrupted by the terrible plague of 1656-57, which reduced the local population from the 291 families (about 1455 inhabitants) of the year 1648 to the barely 70 families (about 350 inhabitants) counted in the census of 1669.

During the 18th century the municipality of Gambatesa had to suffer not a few vexations and usurpations on the part of the new feudal family of the Ceva-Grimaldi, on account of which many citizens were forced to emigrate elsewhere.

In 1799 Gambatesa supported the Parthenopean Republic and on account of this lived tumultuous events. It was attacked and sacked by the inhabitants of Celenza, San Marco la Catola, and Casalvecchio,  [Note 3]  supporters of the Bourbon cause, who released their fury above all against the property of the Rotondo family, politically and militarily employed in the defense of republican ideals. Immediate and bloody was the response of the Rotondo: Celenza in particular paid heavily for its act of aggression. With the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, Prosdocimo Rotondo, who in the republican government held the added office of President of the Committee of Finance, was hanged, at Naples, in the Piazza Mercato on 30 September 1799, while his brothers suffered the confiscation of their properties and exile.

In 1806, with the end of feudalism, the onerous feudal burdens were lifted from the citizens, but, even if they were able to come into possession of their piece of land, they were loaded with other burdens no less heavy. Moreover brigands, famines, cholera, earthquakes and other natural disasters contributed, for the whole of the 19th century and part of the 20th, to making life hard and insecure above all for the least well-to-do.

During the uprisings of 1848, the brothers Giacomo and Domenico Venditti carried out intense political activity for the realization of liberal ideals. In 1891 on account of the imposition of a new tax (la focatica, the hearth or household tax), the exasperated populace gave life to a violent and menacing revolt against the local authorities.

Since the Second World War Gambatesa has gradually developed and has seen a notable increase in building. Today it is an inviting town of 2,000 inhabitants, predominantly agricultural, but with projected potentials for the crafts and for industry.

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Note 1: Areas named "Chiusano", "Salandra" and "Vipera" are still found within the territory of the Comune of Gambatesa; the earliest dwelling places of Gambatesa were there.

• [Photograph showing the remains of Salandra and Vipera as seen from the village center of Gambatesa
• [Maps showing the location of Gambatesa within Italy, and within the Province of Campobasso as that province has been since 1970]

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Note 2: Troia is a town among the large farms (masserie) near Foggia, Puglia. When it is said that the Count of Troia bought the fief (the village and territory) of Gambatesa, this should be understood to mean that he bought all the land and, with it, feudal rights over all the buildings, all the livestock, and all the human beings living there. The latter became his serfs, he their lord (i.e. lord of the land, or, landlord). [Updated information about the Lombardo Family and the Counts of Gambatesa] [Back]

Note 3: Celenza Valfortore, San Marco la Catola, and Casalvecchio di Puglia are towns to the northeast of Gambatesa in, what was then, the Province of Capitanata (now Foggia), in the Region of Puglia. Celenza and San Marco are about four and one-half miles away from Gambatesa, as birds fly. Casalvecchio is about eleven miles away. [Road map showing Gambatesa and some neighboring villages, including Celenza Valfortore.] [Back]

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The Castle, located on the high ground of the Serrone Hill [Note 4], in the center of the historic quarter, has throughout the centuries undergone various transformations. From Castle-fortress to feudal Castle-residence in the Medieval Age, it was transformed in the 16th century into a Renaissance Castle-palace by the feudal-lord family of the Di Capua. It later became baronial-marquisial property and then private property. Today it is included among the belongings of the Italian State.

The continuity of "seat-residence" has preserved the Castle from that degradation which has met other castles and fortresses of Molise.

The original massive square medieval structure with battlements of level-topped merlons is clearly visible on the Southwest side and in the corner towers of the Northeast, while the portals in Renaissance boss style, the windows and the small loggia with three rounded arches which open out on the Northwest, are 15th-16th century additions.

The inside presents itself today, after the recent restorations, as a valuable art gallery on account of the abundance of frescos [Note 5], executed by Donato da Copertino (Decumbertino) and his pupils in 1550, by order of Vincenzo I Di Capua, Duke of Termoli and Count of Gambatesa.

An expression of the Mannerism of the 1500s, the series of paintings, symbolic landscapes, grotesques, drapes, pergolas, mythological and allegorical scenes, taken together constitute evidence of refined art of a notable artistic level. Of particular interest, for their recalling of the plastic effects of the Michelangelo-esque tradition of the 16th century Roman School, are the allegorical figures of Charity, Strength, Prudence, and Justice.

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Note 4: Il colle Serrone, but colle may also mean "pass", so that this may be translated "the Serrone Pass"; "the high point overlooking the pass below" is the idea here. [Photograph from Via Serrone looking down into the valley below | Street map of the village center of Gambatesa showing the location of the castle] [Back]

Note 5: [Photographs of two frescos from Gambatesa's castle] [Back]

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Built under the name of St. Sebastian "outside the Land of Gambatesa" (fuori la Terra di Gambatesa), the Church was officiated from 1586 to 1653 by the Friars Minor Conventual of St. Francis, called "with shoes", who lived in the attached monastery.

Damaged by the earthquake of 1688, it was reconstructed in 1696 and reconsecrated in 1701 under the name St. Nicholas.

The recent restorations of 1987 have brought the little Church back to its original splendor as a small jewel of Romanesque-Renaissance sacred art with simple and clean architectural line. Inside are valuable paintings-on-canvas of the Neapolitan School of the 1600s, 1700s and of the previous age. Among these is the painting of the Immaculate Conception embellished with a finely carved and gilded frame. Particularly evocative is the small apse for its bare Romanesque structure: it is the most ancient and original part of the church.

In the outside masonry are visible functional and decorative elements of recovered material belonging to the ruins of ancient buildings.

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Related Page: [Photographs of Via San Nicola which show the apse of the church]

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Of particular historical and artistic importance is the Greco-Romanesque Cross located in front of the Church of St. Nicholas.

Positioned on a squat octagonal column with a massive square base, the Cross, extracted from a single block of solid stone, is inscribed in a wheel by undulating curved lines. On one face of the Cross is the crucified Christ with the Madonna, St. John and a skull; on the other face is the triumphant Christ who gives a blessing, surrounded by the symbols of the Four Evangelists.

Even if the sculptural execution of the figures is modest, the Cross does not lack a certain plasticity especially in the representation of the animals, and a certain tragic sense emerges from the pose of the Virgin.

Some significant elements belonging to the symbolism of medieval Christian iconography are present in the Cross. The wheel: dynamic image, encompassor of the plenitude of the created order, which rotates around the eternal. The four figures: symbol of the announcement to the world of Christ through the Four Evangelists. The skull: symbol of Adam.

The Cross, by its structure and carving, recalls the typical Celtic stone crosses with their wheels around the crucifix.

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Country church with a nave, located in the vicinity of the sheep-migration trail  [Note 7]  from Castel di Sangro to Lucera (tratturo Castel di Sangro-Lucera). An ancient popular tradition attributes its construction to the will of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.

In origin perhaps an abbey with an attached monastery, it was probably ruined by the earthquake of 1279 or by other events. It was rebuilt from its foundations by Count Richard of Gambatesa in about 1313.

Up to 1653 it was kept and officiated by the Canons Regular of the Lateran of the Monastery of Sant'Agnello di Napoli, whose abbots were titled knights of the fief of the same name of Our Lady of Victory until 1781. Their coat of arms, the lamb bearing the cross, is represented with forceful realism in the lunette of the portal.

The importance of the Sanctuary, and not only as a center of faith and of cult, is testified to by the local indulgences granted by Popes Clement V in 1313 and John XXII in 1317, both at the request of Richard of Gambatesa, and of Innocent XII in 1694.

Despite having undergone, through the centuries, various make-overs the little Church still retains the linearity of the primitive architectural structure of rural imprint that shows elements of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic, readable in the smooth and solid facade and in the portal of bare stone with pointed arch. Valuable inside are the trussed ceiling and the wooden statue of 1714 of Our Lady of Victory.

Of the monastery there remain only ruins.

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Note 6: Known in English as Our Lady of Victory. In 1572 Pope Pius V decreed that an annual commemoration be made of the Battle of Lepanto, the sea victory over the Moslem Turks of 7 October 1571. [Map showing the location of the chapel-sanctuary with respect to the town center of Gambatesa] [Back]

Note 7: Sheep were pastured in summer in the highlands of Abruzzo, then herded down to the plains of Puglia for the winter. Castel di Sangro is in the Province of l'Aquila in the Region of Abruzzo, and Lucera is in the Province of Foggia in the Region of Puglia. [See The Sheep Migration Trails of Molise] [Back]

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Annual Cultural Events

• Festival of the "Traglie" (Sagra delle "Traglie"), last Sunday in July. [La Madonna delle Traglie]
• Festival of Songs in the Dialect of Molise (Festival della Canzone dialettale molisana), 11-13 August.
• Feast of the Assumption (Festività dell'Assunta), 14-15 August [Ferragosto].
• Grape Festival (Sagra dell'uva), first Sunday of October. [La Madonna del Rosario]
• Festival of the "Maitunate" (Sagra delle "Maitunate"), 31 December - 1 January. [Maitunate]

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Source Notes:

« GAMBATESA prov. Campobasso ... frammenti di storia e di arte. Ideazione e testo di Salvatore Abiuso con la collaborazione di Palmiro Di Maria. Edito a cura della Cassa Rurale ed Artigiana di Gambatesa - via Nazionale Appula - Gambatesa. »

Literal translation of versions of an Italian-language pamphlet which came from Gambatesa to America in 1995 and 1997, with footnotes added by Robert [Wesley] Angelo. All material on this Web site is either original in conception and content or fully credited to its creators; copies found elsewhere on the Internet are unauthorized.

The paragraph « Ferrante Di Capua Iuniore, duca di Termoli, anteriormente al 1583 vende Gambatesa a Francesco Lombardo proprietario terriero di Troia » is found only in the 1997 pamphlet. [English translation above]

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Other Pages about Gambatesa

There are many photographs and texts about Gambatesa on this site, but they are scattered in many places. These are links to some of those places, in three categories: History, Photographs, and Biscotti.

History of Gambatesa

• Notes about Monsignor Donato Venditti's books about the origins of Gambatesa and about the origins of Gambatesa's families. Don Donato (1872-1966) was born in Gambatesa and was its parish priest for more than 20 years.
• Everyday life in Gambatesa, as it used to be.
• Gambatesa's Traditions and Special Days.
• Don Giacomo Venditti, Gambatesa's legendary parish priest of living memory, about whom many stories are still told.
• The Christmas Zampognaro ("bagpipe player") and the visits the mountain shepherds who herded livestock between Abruzzo and Puglia, along the tratturo (transhumance), used to make to Gambatesa in the spring and fall of each year.
• Easter in Gambatesa, from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.
• Italian schoolbook's notes about the village of Gambatesa, circa 1920s, with photographs (Panorama and Traglie).
• Description of the Fortore River, with a photograph of the Bridge of the 13 Arches near Gambatesa, circa 1920s.
• Threshing Wheat in Gambatesa, the ancient methods of harvesting that were still practiced in Gambatesa in the early 1950s.
• Dialect Sayings from Gambatesa, and also a few sayings from the Gambatesans in Camden, New Jersey.
• Old color postcard photograph of a Girl Wearing the Traditional Costume of Gambatesa.
• The Origins of Tufara, Gambatesa's neighbor, suggest a similar origin for Gambatesa.
• From Il Molise dalle origini ai nostri giorni ["Molise - From its Origins to Our Own Day"] by Giambattista Masciotta, Volume II (Napoli, 1915), la monografia di Gambatesa ["The chapter about Gambatesa"]. (The text is in Italian only; it has been carefully proof-read to reproduce exactly the printed text of the book from which it was scanned for this Web site, misprints and all.)
• The Journalism of Orlando Abiuso of Gambatesa (Cronache da Gambatesa); the texts are in Italian only.

Photographs of Gambatesa

• Older photographs of Gambatesa; most are from postcards which were in use around 1960. Even older are: Historical Postcard Photographs of Gambatesa.
• Recent photographs of Gambatesa, from 2001-2014 by Angelo Abiuso (Geneva).

Biscotti from Gambatesa

• Taralli ("Biscuit Rings")
• Biscotti con le uova ("Egg Biscuits")
• Cantucci ("Hard Almond Biscuits", called in dialect Maletagliate)
• Nunziata DiRenzo's Biscotti (Gambatesan biscuits from the Italian colony in Camden, New Jersey)

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The URL of this page: https://www.roangelo.net/gambatesa/
Last modified: 6 August 2014 : 2014-08-06 by Robert [Wesley] Angelo.
Translation last modified: 10 June 1999 : 1999-06-10.

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