Molise is the youngest Italian region, established in 1963, when Abruzzi e Molise was split into two regions. The province of Campobasso is bordered to the east by the Adriatic Sea and to the north by the region of Abruzzo. Puglia is to the southeast, while Campania is to the south. The other Molisan province, Isernia, lies to the west.

The Samnites dominated this part of Italy from approximately 600 BC to 290 BC, when following a lengthy struggle against the Romans, the current province of Campobasso was aborbed into the Roman Regio IV Samnium. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Molise was invaded by the Goths in 535 AD, but was taken by the Lombards less than 40 years later, who annexed the territory to the Dukedom of Benevento.