Castello Pignatelli della Leonessa
A document, dating back to the IX century (the Lombardic period) mentioned a fortified building to protect the Monastery of San Martino and the valley, Valle Caudina. In subsequent years, between the Normans and the Anjou, with the reorganization the territorial system of guard posts, the castle underwent a major structural change: it was expanded and given a new form, becoming a real castle. The castle was abandoned in the nineteenth century and the first floor of the Mastio was demolished in 1908, and later restored and made habitable again by the current owners, and in particular by the Duchess Melina della Leonessa becoming a real noble residence. When the Duchess inherited San Martino, the area was subject to the phenomenon of emigration. Melina, always engaged in social work and was a real volcano of ideas. She decided to found here a weaving workshop to give work to some girls while promoting an endangered craft. From the workshop, equipped with nine semiautomatic looms, came out fabrics of great value. Her great passion was the castle and she immediately began with the restoration. She worked for about thirty years, personally following the construction sites, educating workers and artisans drawn from her passion. The building, in fact, has rooms covered with remarkable art works as decorations and frescoes, dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Noteworthy are the scenes of the family especially the ones housed in the living room, upstairs, with wooden flooring.