Situation
Benevento, chief town of its province, lies in Campania, some 50km/31mi northeast of Naples. The town, beautifully situated on a flat-topped hill between the rivers Savato and Calore, is the economic and communications center of the fertile
Benevento basin.
History
The town was originally called Maleventum, but after the "Pyrrhic victory" of King Pyrrhus of Epirus over the Romans in 275 B.C. and the establishment of a Roman military colony in 268 B.C. it was given the more auspicious name of Beneventum. Situated at the junction of the Via Appia with four other Roman roads, it developed into one of the most important towns in southern Italy, and from the sixth to the 11th centuries it was the seat of powerful Lombard dukes. Thereafter the town belonged to the Papal State (with a short interruption under Napoleon) until it became part of Italy in 1860. It has been the see of an archbishop since 969.
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