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Molise, the youngest Italian region (until 1963 it was part of Abruzzo), lies in central-southern Italy on the Adriatic coastline of the peninsula. Only its south-western section belongs to the Tyrrhenian coastline.

As regards area and population, it is the penultimate of the Italian regions, larger only than Val d'Aosta; lying to the north-east on the Adriatic, it borders with Abruzzo to the north, with Latium to the west, with Campania to the south and with Puglia (Apulia) to the south-east.

Its borders are mostly artificial, due mainly to complex feudal and administrative vicissitudes: natural limits are the Trigno and the Fortore rivers, which respectively mark most of the border with Abruzzo and Puglia and the calcareous massifs of Meta, the Mainardes and Matese, administratively divided between Latium and Campania.

History. The regional territory is nearly all mountainous (55% of the surface area) or hilly, with limited flat ground in the lower valleys and along the Adriatic coast; the Apennines divide Molise into isolated mountains and a chaotic array of hills, which stretch within a few kilometres of the coast, making communications difficult and creating a state of isolation.

The highest mountains are at the heart of the region and are part of `Samnite Apennine' (northern and eastern parts of Appennino Campano which the Bocca di Forlì (891 m.) separates from the Abruzzese Apennines) which include the southern extreme of the Meta mountains, here culminating at 2,185 m., the northern slope of the calcareous Matese massif (Mt. Miletto, 2,050 m.) and the Mount Mutria group; in addition, the Molise border passes the Apennine watershed, including the upper valley of the Volturno River, between the Mainardes and Matese.

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