Between Molise and Basilicata: Baranello and Ruoti

Molise became an important territory of expansion for the Ruffo in the seventeenth century. Here they acquired numerous fiefs, some of which took on important political and economic value. Chief among them was Baranello, now in the province of Campobasso, acquired with the ducal title by the Ruffo in the early eighteenth century. The castle of Baranello was owned by the family Ruffo until the nineteenth century. It was built at the highest point of the old town, carrying out its function of defense and control of the entire territory, and is placed inside of a complex of buildings that connects it with the tower, the tallest part of the structure. Having been subjected to constant changes, it is difficult to reconstruct the different historical phases of construction and renovation of the castle. Similarly, the presence of different artistic styles related to different eras makes it laborious to analyze the architectural complex.

The town of Ruoti, now in the province of Potenza, is situated on a hill overlooking the course of the Avigliano torrent, and it was another of the possessions of Ruffo. Its castle was built in 1620, when Ettore Capece Minutolo bought the fief of Ruoti, giving him the the title of “Prince of Ruoti”. On the main facade the coat of arms of the Capece Minutolo is still visible depicting a rampant lion. The Baroque style of the palace is now barely legible due to its strong degradation, provides evidence of at least two phases of its construction, with an ashlared portal from the seventeenth century and with the expansion of the previous building which saw the annexation of a new wing above the old chapel of San Sebastiano. The interior offers an old seventeenth-century courtyard with a loggia, steps in stone from Abetina, stables and cellars. On the old loggia, in stone from Abetina, there is a large coat of arms of the Ruffo, who obtained the remains of the old fief of the Capece Minutolo.

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