A lively city, situated at the top of a hill at the confluence of the Sabato river with the Calore river, in a vast valley surrounded by wooded mountains; it is an agricultural and industrial centre and also at the junction of important main roads. It flourished in the Roman era and, during the Middle Ages, was a ducal seat, then a Lombardic principality until 1077. As well as the attractions of the remarkable monuments which bear witness to the city’s splendour during the Roman, Lombardic and late Medieval periods, the visitor to Benevento can also subtly discover minor urbanistic and architectural testimonies in the streets of the historical centre: openings, courtyards, porches, external stairways, roof terraces, arches and small Baroque buildings; occasionally, trapped between the walls of the houses, Roman columns, tombstones and memorial stones. The visualisation of all the architectural layers will lead to a better understanding of the long history of the city, tormented many times by earthquakes and the destruction brought by war. In fact, the last destruction caused by the disastrous bombardments in 1943 had a profound effect on the fabric of the town. There is a lively cultural activity in Benevento, designated as the seat of an internal University of Campania and which has the foundations of well stocked libraries and of the existence of prestigious Institutes like the Sannio Museum and the cultural Centre of the Catholic University.
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