Molise, explored in full.

Wedged between Abruzzo and the deep south, the country's second-smallest region slips off most itineraries entirely, which is precisely why it still feels like a secret. Here the Apennines roll down toward the Adriatic in folds of pasture and oak, threaded by the ancient tratturi, the grassy droving roads along which shepherds once moved their flocks for centuries.

What endures is the deep past, worn smooth and unguarded. A Samnite theatre cut from grey stone surveys the Trigno valley at Pietrabbondante. At Sepino, the Roman town of Saepinum stands among working farms, its gates and forum interrupted by the occasional farmhouse. In the hill villages, stone-carvers and bell-founders still practise crafts measured in centuries.

Come for slowness, in late spring or early autumn, when the wheat is gold and the borghi are warm but empty. Molise rewards travellers who have stopped counting monuments and started noticing the quiet.