Larino (Campobassan dialect: Larìnə; Latin: Larinum) is a town and comune of approximately 8,100 inhabitants in Molise, province of Campobasso, southern Italy.

Originally settled by the Samnite and Frentani tribes of Southern Italy, the city came under the control of the Oscan civilization.

When Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great fought for the power in Rome, the latter is said to have joined two of his legions who were encamped at Larinum.

An important senatus consultum restricting public performances by members of the Roman upper classes was found nearby.

The 373 survivors were prepared to abandon the settlement, but through the vigorous efforts of then Bishop Giuseppe Catalano, they were convinced to stay, and the city grew and thrived once again.

The elliptical amphitheater was built in the 1st century AD by a prominent citizen of Larino who had made his fortune in far away Rome.

One of the church's main elements is the portal, with columns included in a blind protyrus, and examples of medieval decoration including lions, gryphons and a lunette with the Crucifixion; the portal is surmounted by a rose window in Gothic style sided by depictions of the Four Evangelists and the Agnus Dei.

Dr. Robert Gardner in his studies, noted an earlier, but less grand cathedral mirrored the design of the present gothic structure.

These churches, like those at Lucera, Foggia, Manfredonia, Vasto, Ortona, for example, were built by the Angevin rulers in the "French style.

The rather primitive wall paintings in the cathedral were a part of the approach to ecclesiastical decoration favoured by the French kings.

According to scholars the decorative excellence of churches at Atri, L’Aquila, Penne, Larino, and Ortona were fashioned by local schools of craftsmen in some isolation from other influences.

Today in Larino you can see evidence of this usage of ancient materials in the base of the Galuppi bell tower across the square from the cathedral.

If an observer stands in the archway of the bell tower and looks upward you will see a series of parallel lines running up from the supporting massive cut stone base to the top of the arch.

The first layer would be allowed to set and then the higher level would be installed, again built with a combination of rubble and cut stone placed at the edges of the structure.

Once above the level of the base any materials could be used because they were likely faced with a plaster much as many columns from Roman times were actually built with brick with a smooth coating of cement.

The Fleur De Lys appear on the columns at the portal because the Kings and Monks who supervised construction were French.

The cut stone was hauled by the horse and bull drawn carts from the classical city to the construction site.

A procession moves from the historic centre and the cathedral to the cemetery and the old church which dates from the earliest days of the Christian era.

Christmas is celebrated with scenes from the Nativity and the installation of thousands of lights which illuminate every section of the historic center.

February is celebrated with an elaborate carnival with scores of gigantic paper Mache characters on motorized floats.