Melito Irpino (

Irpino The Irpinian dialect, or Irpino, is the dialect of Neapolitan language spoken in almost all of the comuni in the Province of Avellino in the Italian region of Campania. It differs from other varieties in certain phrases, pronunciation and the us ...

: ) is a town and ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' in the

province of Avellino The province of Avellino () is a province in the Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea ...

, in the

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

region of south-western

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

History

The remains of the ancient Melito were found in 1880. According to some theories, it could be a suburban village belonging to

Aeclanum Aeclanum (also spelled Aeculanum, , ) was an ancient town of Samnium, Southern Italy, about 25 km east-southeast of Benevento, Beneventum, on the Via Appia. It lies in Passo di Mirabella, near the modern Mirabella Eclano. It is now an archa ...

, but the prevailing theory suggests that it was the ancient village of ''Melae'' (or ''Melas''). In ''

Ab Urbe Condita ''Ab urbe condita'' (; 'from the founding of Rome, founding of the City'), or (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is ...

'' (book XXIV, chapter X),

Titus Livius Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

wrote that Melae was destroyed in 215 BC by the troops of Claudius Marcellus and Quintus Fabius, during the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of Punic Wars, three wars fought between Ancient Carthage, Carthage and Roman Republic, Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For ...

.History of Melito Irpino
(municipal website)

Geography

The municipality is located in the northern area of its province, next to that of Benevento. Crossed by the river

Ufita The Ufita is a river of Campania, in southern Italy. The source is in the Baronia traditional sub-region of Irpinia, in the province of Avellino, after which the river flows generally north-westwards, entering the province of Benevento before ent ...

, it borders with

Apice Apice is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 70 km northeast of Naples and about 13 km east of Benevento. Apice borders the following municipalities: Ariano Irpino, Bon ...

Ariano Irpino Ariano Irpino (formerly known as ''Ariano di Puglia'' until 1930, and simply ''Ariano'' in historical sources and the Arianese dialect) is an Italian Comune (Italy), municipality with a population of 20,706 inhabitants located in the Province of ...

Bonito Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned, predatory fish in the family Scombridae, which it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish. Also called the tribe Sardini, it consists of ...

and

Grottaminarda Grottaminarda (Irpino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino (Campania), situated northeast of Naples, in the southwest of Italy. Grottaminarda is part of Roman Catholic Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia and its territory bor ...

. Its hamlets (''

frazioni A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'') are the small villages of Cozza, Fontana del Bosco and Incoronata. The town, included in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia The Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Benevento. In 1986 the Diocese of Ariano and the Diocese of Lacedonia merged to form the current diocese of Ariano Irpi ...

, is 5 km far from Grottaminarda, 9 from Ariano Irpino, 30 from

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

and 48 from

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

. Nearest motorway exit is located in Grottaminarda, on the A16

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

Main sights

*The medieval old town, damaged by the 1962 Irpinia earthquake and then abandoned. *The medieval castle in the old town.The Castle of Melito Irpino on museodeicastelli.it
/ref>

People

* (b. 1949), the first transatlantic hijacker * Tonino Sorrentino (b. 1985), footballer

References

External links

Official website

Melito Irpino on comuni-italiani.it
Cities and towns in Campania {{Campania-geo-stub