AESERNIA (mod. Isernia), a Samnite town 58m. N.E. of Beneventum on the road to Corfinium, at the junction of a road past Venafrum to the Via Latina. These routes are all followed by railways to Campobasso, Sulmona and Caianello. A Roman colony from 263 B.C., it became the headquarters of the Italian revolt after the loss of Corfinium, and was only recovered by Sulla at the end of the war, in 8o B.C. Massive ancient walls serve as foundation to modern ones.