"Modelled above all by its particular location, the deformation and position of its rocks, then by the effects of unceasing erosion, the massif streches like a barrier for more than 50 kilometers along the borders between Molise and Campania, occupying an area of aaround 1000 square koilometers between the provinces of Campobasso and Isernia in Molise, Caserta and Benevento in Campania.
Monte Miletto (2050 m.), La Gallinola (1923 m.), and Monte Mutria (1823 m.) are the highest peaks lying along the line of the watershed.
For the whole of its length, from East to West, the Matese presents a grandiose cycle of jagged crests and inaccessible crags, long plateaux, deep valleys and cliffs that break up the mountain slopes, narrow gorges,sheer walls and imposing bulwarks, enormous detritus, luxuriant woodlands and brilliantly coloured meadows, spotless snow and water tumbling down the slopes in countless crystalclear waterfalls.
Plants and animals have lived here for thousands of years, colonizzing a wide variety of environments.
The wolf, boar, fox, hare, wild cat, buzzard, hawk and owl, to mention but a few, are the typical animals of these mountains.
The gentian, the strong-scented wild thyme and forget-me-not, multicoloured crocuses, juniper, beech, chestnut and other plants are at home here.
The Matese is so spectacular that it can communicate a different fervour and feeling to each visitor.
But there is more to the Matese than this: one of its particular and unpublished aspects concerns the fossils, the remains of living creatures from the past that are embedded in the rocks."
Michele Mainelli
