Castello Cercemaggiore
Italy · Europe
About
Molise (UK: mol-EE-zay, US: MOH-lee-zay, moh-LEE-zay;Italian: [moˈliːze]) is an administrative region of Italy that covers 4,460.65 km2 (1,722 sq mi), thus being the second smallest region in the country after Aosta Valley; it is located in southern Italy, and has a population of 285,940 as of 2026. Its regional capital and largest city is Campobasso, which is also the capital of the Province of Campobasso, one of the two provinces that make up Molise. The other one is the Province of Isernia.
The region was born in 1963 from the division with Abruzzo, with which it formed the region of Abruzzi e Molise.
Molise's small size and relative obscurity led it to become the subject of a popular meme "Molise doesn't exist".
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.