Scapoli is a Molise municipality in the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, located 611 meters above sea level, nestled on a hill surrounded at the back by the imposing Mainarde peaks.
The municipal territory, covering approximately 1600 hectares, borders to the east with the municipalities of Rocchetta a Volturno and Colli a Volturno, to the north with Castel San Vincenzo and to the south and west with Filignano. Municipality decorated with the Silver Medal for Civil Merit, it was awarded the important "Orange Flag" recognition of the Italian Touring Club in December 2010 and in 2012 the very prestigious "Diploma of Europe" awarded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Brussels Europe.
The origin of the name of the town could date back to the Latin term scopulus (cliff, boulder, rocky peak) or even scapulae (ridge, slope of a mountain).
In the 8th century, as we learn from the "Chronicon Vulturnense" of Monk Giovanni, responsible for the scriptorium of the nearby Abbey of San Vincenzo al VolturnO, Scapoli was an inhospitable land whose territory was mostly mountainous. In 980 in the current territory of Scapoli there already existed a Church dedicated to San Pietro d'Itria, but only in 982, when the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of San Vincenzo al Volturno had already undertaken the work of fortifying their extensive territory, the Scappili castrum (“homines conduxit et habitare decisit in Castro Scappili”) following a foundation contract with four levellers called to clear and cultivate the territory. At the end of the 10th century other settlers arrived there from Valva (Sulmona).
Until 1325, during the period of Angevin domination, Scapoli belonged to Abruzzo Citra (Chieti): it was in fact one of the castra sold to Camillo Pandone in 1382 to restore the Monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno. In the second half of the 16th century it belonged to the Bucciarelli family, in 1604 it passed to Innico di Grazia, baron of Cerro who then sold it to Tommaso Calvo; at the end of the 1700s it was the turn of the Cestari, believed to be a branch of the Acerbo d'Aragona family, up to the Marquises Battiloro (19th century).
Having become part of the Terra di Lavoro, from 17 February 1861 Scapoli was included in the Molise territory. In this same period, both Scapoli and the Mainard district of Molise, Lazio and Campania were affected by the phenomenon of brigandage, born as a reaction to the Piedmontese occupation, which had one of the most important leaders in the brigand Domenico Coia, originally from Castelnuovo al Volturno.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Scapoli, like other municipalities in the Upper Volturno Valley, was affected by a strong migratory flow which within a few decades led to a considerable demographic haemorrhage. In the fascist era the municipality was aggregated to Colli a Volturno to regain its autonomy in 1946. In Scapoli, in the spring of 1944, the Italian Liberation Corps was established which gave rise to the rebirth of the Italian Army after the armistice.
Precisely the notable and important vicissitudes experienced by the population of Scapoli during the last world war are the basis of the motivation for the awarding of the Silver Medal for Civil Merit which in 2007 was granted by the President of the Republic: "Strategically important centre, located on the " Gustav line", during the last world war it found itself at the center of opposing sides, suffering ferocious reprisals, raids and barbarism by German and Moroccan troops which caused civilian victims and the devastation of the building and agricultural heritage. The population was able to react with dignity to the horrors of war, giving an admirable example of love of country and spirit of freedom."
