Feudal Prisons

Opposite the collegiate church of San Martino stand the feudal prisons of Cerreto Sannita, once the jail of the county of the Carafa. Before the 1688 earthquake prisoners were locked up in the old keep, of which only ruins remain today, where there was also a dreaded underground pit. The new building was designed by Giovanni Battista Manni and completed in 1711.The power of these spaces always strikes us: on the ground floor a large hall awaits you with iron rings for chains, walls almost two metres thick and a cell with old graffiti left by the prisoners. The upper floor held women and debtors. We recommend a visit to experience first-hand a piece of the Sannio's social history, which remained in use until just a few decades ago.