Published by Leonardo Calcagno
x Le Mondial de la Bière June 20–22 in Montréal
In Italy’s most mysterious region, where ancient Samnite traditions survive and wolves outnumber tourists, craft brewers are creating liquid treasures that honor a forgotten corner of the peninsula
Molise doesn’t exist—or so goes the running joke among Italians. Italy’s second-smallest region, wedged between Abruzzo and Puglia, has achieved a peculiar form of fame through its very obscurity. Tourist guidebooks barely mention it, Romans forget it exists, and even Italians struggle to name its capital. Yet in this forgotten corner of the peninsula, where Samnite ruins emerge from wheat fields and medieval traditions survive unchanged, a craft beer movement is quietly emerging that embodies everything Molise represents: authentic, uncompromising, and refreshingly free from outside expectations.
The region’s approach to brewing mirrors its broader character—intensely local, proudly independent, and utterly indifferent to trends. Here, where every face is familiar and every family history stretches back centuries, craft beer isn’t about impressing outsiders or competing with neighboring regions. It’s about creating something worthy of a place that has preserved its identity against all odds.
Ancient Roots, Modern Expression
Molise’s craft beer story begins with its extraordinary agricultural heritage. This narrow strip of land between the Apennines and the Adriatic possesses some of Italy’s most fertile soil, producing grains with characteristics shaped by millennia of cultivation. The region’s wheat varieties, some dating to Roman times, provide the foundation for beers with flavors that connect directly to the ancient past.
At Birrificio del Matese, nestled in the foothills of the region’s highest mountains, master brewer Giuseppe Petrella works exclusively with heritage grains grown within sight of his brewery. His “Sanniti” series recreates beer styles that might have sustained the fierce Samnite warriors who resisted Roman conquest for centuries. Using ancient emmer and spelt varieties, along with wild herbs gathered from mountainsides where Samnite temples once stood, these beers offer a direct taste of pre-Roman Italy.
The brewery’s flagship “Resistenza” barley wine, aged in caves that served as Samnite burial chambers, represents this historical connection perfectly. Each bottle carries the mineral signature of limestone mountains, the herbal complexity of untouched wilderness, and something ineffable that speaks to the region’s enduring spirit of independence.
Village Life, Liquid Stories
Molise’s craft beer scene reflects the intimate scale of regional life. With only 300,000 inhabitants scattered across two provinces, everyone knows everyone, and every brewery serves its immediate community first. This creates a brewing culture that’s refreshingly free from commercial pressures, where quality matters more than quantity and tradition trumps innovation.
In Campobasso, the regional capital perched on a hilltop like a medieval crown, Birrificio della Cittadella operates from the basement of a palazzo that has housed the same family for eight generations. Owner and brewer Maria Santangelo learned the craft from her grandfather, who brewed illegally during World War II to supplement the family’s meager rations.
Her “Nonno” series honors this family tradition, using recipes passed down through generations and techniques that prioritize flavor over efficiency. The result is beer that tastes like memory—complex, nuanced, and impossible to replicate commercially. Each batch tells a story of survival, community, and the kind of deep knowledge that only comes from staying in one place for generations.
Transhumance Traditions
Molise’s pastoral heritage runs as deep as any region in Italy. The ancient practice of transhumance—moving flocks seasonally between highland and lowland pastures—has shaped the regional culture for millennia. Several craft breweries have drawn inspiration from this pastoral tradition, creating beers that reflect the rhythms of shepherd life.
Birrificio Tratturo, named for the ancient sheep roads that cross the region, follows the pastoral calendar in its brewing schedule. Their “Pastore” series features different beers for different seasons—light ales for spring lambing, robust porters for winter mountain stays, and complex saisons that incorporate herbs gathered along traditional grazing routes.
The brewery’s most ambitious project involves collaboration with the few remaining transhumant shepherds. Their “Latte di Pecora” beer incorporates whey from traditional sheep’s milk cheeses, creating a product that tastes literally of the landscape. It’s a beer that could only exist in Molise, brewed by people who understand that the best flavors come from working with rather than against the natural world.
Medieval Strongholds
Molise’s landscape is dotted with perfectly preserved medieval towns that seem untouched by time. These ancient settlements, many depopulated by emigration, have become unlikely centers of brewing innovation as young people return to create new lives in ancestral places.
In Termoli, the region’s only significant coastal town, the medieval quarter harbors Birrificio del Borgo Antico, housed in a 13th-century watchtower that once guarded against Saracen raids. The brewery’s “Vedetta” series draws inspiration from this martial heritage, creating robust ales that might have sustained medieval garrisons.
Their approach to brewing reflects the fortress mentality of these ancient settlements—self-sufficient, resourceful, and built to last. Every ingredient is sourced locally, every technique is tested by time, and every beer is designed to nourish rather than merely intoxicate.
Wild Ingredients, Pure Flavors
Molise’s relative isolation has preserved botanical diversity that disappeared elsewhere centuries ago. The region’s craft brewers have access to wild ingredients that exist nowhere else—endemic herbs, ancient fruit varieties, and wild yeasts that have evolved in isolation from outside contamination.
Birrificio Selvaggio, operating from a restored monastery in the Matese mountains, specializes in truly wild brewing. Their “Bosco” series uses only ingredients gathered from protected wilderness areas—wild berries that ripen above the treeline, herbs that grow in limestone crevices, and spring water that emerges from caves deep in the mountains.
The brewery’s most extraordinary creation is “Primitivo,” brewed entirely with pre-agricultural ingredients using techniques reconstructed from archaeological evidence. It’s beer as our ancestors might have known it—wild, unpredictable, and utterly authentic to its place of origin.
The Emigrant’s Return
Molise has always been a region of departure—young people leaving for opportunities in Rome, Milan, or abroad. Yet recently, a reverse migration has begun, with emigrants returning to create new enterprises in ancestral places. Many of these returnees have brought brewing knowledge acquired elsewhere, creating a synthesis of global technique and local tradition.
At Birrificio del Ritorno in Isernia, founder Antonio Lombardi returned from twenty years brewing in Germany to create beers that honor both his adopted techniques and his native terroir. His “Heimat” lagers use German methods with Molise ingredients, creating beers that bridge two brewing traditions while remaining unmistakably local.
This return migration has injected new energy into the regional brewing scene while maintaining its essential character. Young brewers bring innovation tempered by respect for tradition, ensuring that growth serves authenticity rather than replacing it.
Festival Culture
Molise’s craft beer scene is intimately connected to the region’s festival culture. The numerous sagre that celebrate everything from truffles to grain harvests provide natural platforms for local breweries to showcase their work alongside traditional foods and crafts.
The annual Sagra del Grano in Jelsi has become an unofficial celebration of regional brewing, with local breweries creating special releases that pair with traditional wheat-based dishes. These events strengthen community bonds while providing economic support for small enterprises that might otherwise struggle to survive.
Challenges and Opportunities
Molise’s craft brewers face unique challenges that reflect the region’s geographic and economic realities. Limited local markets restrict growth opportunities, while distance from major population centers increases distribution costs. The ongoing population decline threatens the community base that supports local businesses.
Yet these challenges have also created opportunities. Low property values allow breweries to establish operations in spectacular locations at reasonable costs. The absence of industrial development has preserved environmental conditions ideal for artisanal production. Most importantly, the lack of commercial pressure allows brewers to focus on quality and authenticity.
The Future of Forgotten Places
As Molise’s craft beer scene continues to develop, it offers a model for rural development that honors place while creating opportunity. The region’s brewers are proving that success doesn’t require abandoning identity or competing on global terms.
Young entrepreneurs are creating businesses that serve local communities while attracting visitors drawn by authenticity rather than marketing. They’re building a sustainable economy based on quality rather than quantity, tradition rather than trends.
A Liquid Testament
In tasting rooms housed in medieval buildings, where stone walls hold the memory of centuries and wooden beams frame views of landscapes that have inspired poets and painters, Molise’s craft beer offers more than refreshment. It provides a liquid connection to a way of life that much of the world has forgotten—one based on community, continuity, and the kind of deep knowledge that comes only from staying in one place long enough to understand it completely.
The brewers of Molise are creating more than beer—they’re crafting liquid testimonies to the value of small places, quiet traditions, and the stubborn insistence that not everything worthwhile needs to be famous to be meaningful. In a world increasingly dominated by global brands and homogenized experiences, they offer something precious: proof that the best things often happen in the places nobody’s watching, created by people who care more about getting it right than getting recognition.
Molise may not exist in the popular imagination, but for those fortunate enough to discover its liquid treasures, it represents something irreplaceable: the taste of authenticity in an artificial age, the flavor of community in an atomized world, and the satisfaction of finding something truly special in the last place anyone thought to look.
x Le Mondial de la Bière June 20–22 in Montréal