Did you know that the famous Dutch artist, Escher, was in Molise? He left us a view of Cerro al Volturno, the small village in the province of Isernia, with its splendid castle.

In 1922 Maurits Cornelis Escher visited Italy with some friends. He was so struck by the extraordinary beauty of the country, that he returned there in the autumn of the same year and again the following year and he moved to Rome in 1924.
He made many trips to discover Italy and he was completely overwhelmed above all by southern Italy, with its peculiar beauty.

Between 1929 and 1930 he traveled to Abruzzo, drawing and engraving views of different countries set in the uncontaminated nature of the central Apennines. He visited the upper Molise (Molise, at the time, did not exist yet).
Of his trip we have a splendid view of Cerro a Volturno, in the province of Isernia, with the castle perched on a rock, overlooking the small village below.
A design full of suggestions, suspended between a real and, at the same time, fantastic (almost dreamlike) dimension.

Brunella Muttillo

Opening image: Maurits Cornelis Escher, View of Cerro al Volturno, 1929, xilografia (from ArcheoMolise 33).

Evangelista, T 2019, ‘Artisti e viaggiatori nell’Alta Valle del Volturno’, ArcheoMolise, 33, pp. 62-73.