Historically it is certain that, in times before, within present township limits, of the inhabited built-up areas, there used to exist some areas dating back to the time of the Romans.  Of this there is evidence in recovered coins, tombs and remains of walls from the Roman Age, as well as ruins and information from church sources regarding the villages of Chiusano, Salandra and Vipera.

The origin itself of the built-up area of Gambatesa lies in the time before the Lombard invasion.  None-the-less, historical research has so far taken as its beginning the time in which the village assumed the name Gambatesa.

The fundamental part of the history of Gambatesa begins in the 13th century with Richard of Gambatesa (Riccardo da Gambatesa or di Gambatesa), right-hand man of the Angevin Court of Naples and of the Papal Court at Rome.  Gifted with great diplomatic and military ability, Richard gained fame as a wise ruler and as a brave military leader, above all in the government and defense of Genoa against the assaults of the exiled Ghibellines headed by Cane della Scala, Marco Visconti of Milan, and by Castruccio Castrocani degli Antelminelli, Lord of Lucca.  For these and for his other merits Richard of Gambatesa obtained from Robert of Anjou, King of Naples, not a few titles and fiefs.

Richard of Gambatesa, not having male heirs, but only two female (Sybil and Margaret), procured that his first grandson Riccardello, son of the said Sybil and of Giovanni Monforte, add to his paternal surname also that of Gambatesa, thus giving beginning to the new feudal lineage of Monforte-Gambatesa.

From the end of the 14th century through the whole of the 15th, history records no facts of particular importance.  With the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples by the Court of Aragon, the fief of Gambatesa passed in 1484 to Andrea Di Capua, Duke of Termoli.

With the Di Capua, who adopted a liberal political line, began for Gambatesa a long period of relative peace, productiveness and well-being, during which there was a notable expansion of sheep farming both village-based (stabled) and migratory, which was accompanied by a large increase in population and in building.  The good socio-economic situation favored the emergence of a few middle-class families.  Among these the most fame was achieved, from the end of the 1500s to the beginning of the 1600s, by the Eustachio family, for its considerable activity carried out in the field of medicine and in that of the ecclesiastical-pastoral.

Ferrante Di Capua, Junior, Duke of Termoli, prior to 1583, sold Gambatesa to Francesco Lombardo, landowner from Troia. 

This period of growth was interrupted by the terrible plague of 1656-57, which reduced the local population from the 291 families (about 1455 inhabitants) of the year 1648 to the barely 70 families (about 350 inhabitants) counted in the census of 1669.

During the 18th century the municipality of Gambatesa had to suffer not a few vexations and usurpations on the part of the new feudal family of the Ceva-Grimaldi, on account of which many citizens were forced to emigrate elsewhere.

In 1799 Gambatesa supported the Parthenopean Republic and on account of this lived tumultuous events.  It was attacked and sacked by the inhabitants of Celenza, San Marco la Catola, and Casalvecchio , supporters of the Bourbon cause, who released their fury above all against the property of the Rotondo family, politically and militarily employed in the defense of republican ideals.  Immediate and bloody was the response of the Rotondo: Celenza in particular paid heavily for its act of aggression.  With the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, Prosdocimo Rotondo, who in the republican government held the added office of President of the Committee of Finance, was hanged, at Naples, in the Piazza Mercato on 30 September 1799, while his brothers suffered the confiscation of their properties and exile.

In 1806, with the end of feudalism, the onerous feudal burdens were lifted from the citizens, but, even if they were able to come into possession of their piece of land, they were loaded with other burdens no less heavy.  Moreover brigands, famines, cholera, earthquakes and other natural disasters contributed, for the whole of the 19th century and part of the 20th, to making life hard and insecure above all for the least well-to-do.

During the uprisings of 1848, the brothers Giacomo and Domenico Venditti carried out intense political activity for the realization of liberal ideals.  In 1891 on account of the imposition of a new tax (la focatica, the hearth or household tax), the exasperated populace gave life to a violent and menacing revolt against the local authorities.

Since the Second World War Gambatesa has gradually developed and has seen a notable increase in building.  Today it is an inviting town of 2,000 inhabitants, predominantly agricultural, but with projected potentials for the crafts and for industry.

The Castle, located on the high ground of the Serrone Hill, in the center of the historic quarter, has throughout the centuries undergone various transformations.  From Castle-fortress to feudal Castle-residence in the Medieval Age, it was transformed in the 16th century into a Renaissance Castle-palace by the feudal-lord family of the Di Capua.  It later became baronial-marquisial property and then private property.  Today it is included among the belongings of the Italian State.

The continuity of "seat-residence" has preserved the Castle from that degradation which has met other castles and fortresses of Molise.

The original massive square medieval structure with battlements of level-topped merlons is clearly visible on the Southwest side and in the corner towers of the Northeast, while the portals in Renaissance boss style, the windows and the small loggia with three rounded arches which open out on the Northwest, are 15th-16th century additions.

The inside presents itself today, after the recent restorations, as a valuable art gallery on account of the abundance of frescos, executed by Donato da Copertino (Decumbertino) and his pupils in 1550, by order of Vincenzo I Di Capua, Duke of Termoli and Count of Gambatesa.

An expression of the Mannerism of the 1500s, the series of paintings, symbolic landscapes, grotesques, drapes, pergolas, mythological and allegorical scenes, taken together constitute evidence of refined art of a notable artistic level.  Of particular interest, for their recalling of the plastic effects of the Michelangelo-esque tradition of the 16th century Roman School, are the allegorical figures of Charity, Strength, Prudence, and Justice.

Built under the name of St. Sebastian "outside the Land of Gambatesa" (fuori la Terra di Gambatesa), the Church was officiated from 1586 to 1653 by the Friars Minor Conventual of St. Francis, called "with shoes", who lived in the attached monastery.

Damaged by the earthquake of 1688, it was reconstructed in 1696 and reconsecrated in 1701 under the name St. Nicholas.

The recent restorations of 1987 have brought the little Church back to its original splendor as a small jewel of Romanesque-Renaissance sacred art with simple and clean architectural line.  Inside are valuable paintings-on-canvas of the Neapolitan School of the 1600s, 1700s and of the previous age.  Among these is the painting of the Immaculate Conception embellished with a finely carved and gilded frame.  Particularly evocative is the small apse for its bare Romanesque structure: it is the most ancient and original part of the church.

In origin perhaps an abbey with an attached monastery, it was probably ruined by the earthquake of 1279 or by other events.  It was rebuilt from its foundations by Count Richard of Gambatesa in about 1313.

Up to 1653 it was kept and officiated by the Canons Regular of the Lateran of the Monastery of Sant'Agnello di Napoli, whose abbots were titled knights of the fief of the same name of Our Lady of Victory until 1781.  Their coat of arms, the lamb bearing the cross, is represented with forceful realism in the lunette of the portal.

The importance of the Sanctuary, and not only as a center of faith and of cult, is testified to by the local indulgences granted by Popes Clement V in 1313 and John XXII in 1317, both at the request of Richard of Gambatesa, and of Innocent XII in 1694.