ENGLISH * BENEVENTO
IT
SEEMS AS IF THE MOUNTAINS OPEN TO LEAVE A PASSAGE THROUGH FOR US. BEHIND US
ARE THE MAGNIFICIENT HEIGHTS OF THE MATESE MOUNTAINS, WHILE THOSE OF THE IRPINIA
RANGE APPEAR FAINTLY ON THE HORIZON. TO THE EAST THERE ARE YET MORE MOUNTAINS
THE DAUNIA RANGE BUT ON OUR RIGHT THE PLATEAU OF CAMPOSAURO DOES NOT OBSTRUCT
THE VIEW. BENEATH US, WITH THE RIVERS CALORE AND SABATO BENDING ROUND IT AND
GLINTING IN THE SUN, THERE LIES BENEVENTO, WHICH WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT CITY
IN SOUTHERN ITALY DURING ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES.
IT IS NOT SURPRISING TO FIND TRACES OF ROMAN
CIVILISATION IN THESE HARSH AND INACCESSIBLE PLACES: ROME REACHED EVERYWHERE,
BUT BENEVENTO WAS CENTRAL TO ITS EXPANSION. HERE,IN
THE REMOTE PAST, A RACE OF FARMERS AND SHEPHERDS WHO HAD COME FROM THE NORTH
SETTLED, AND THEIR SHEEPKEEPING ACTIVITIES LED TO THE PLACE BEING CALLED MALOENTON,
WHICH MEANS "THE PASSAGE OF FLOCKS". IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C.,
THE SAMNITES CAME UPON THIS PEACEFUL POPULATION AND INSPIRED THEM WITH THEIR
OWN WARLIKE SPIRIT. MALOENTON, HOWEVER, WAS AN OBSTACLE IN THE WAY OF THE
ROMANS AS THEY MOVED TOWARDS PUGLIA AND CALABRIA, AS WELL AS A THREAT TO THEIR
EXPANSIONIST DESIGNS ITS CAPTURE WAS THEREFORE VITAL. THUS, IT WAS ON THE
ROAD TO BENEVENTO THAT ROME STARTED ITS CLIMB TOWARDS THE POSITION OF "SUPERPOWER".
IT BEGAN GRADUALLY, ESTABLISHING
SMALL ROMAN COLONIES HERE AND THERE AMONG THE SMALL TOWNS IN SANNIO WHICH
WE HAVE JUST FLOWN OVER. BENEVENTO CERTAINLY DID NOT STAND BACK AND WATCH
THIS HAPPENING: THE SAMNITE WARS ARE A GLORIOUS CHAPTER IN THE CITY'S HISTORY,
EVEN IF THE BATTLE OF SATICOLA WAS A DEFEAT, AND THE BATTLE OF SENTINO, IN
295 B.C., MARKED THE LAST DESPERATE ATTEMPT BY THE ITALIC PEOPLE TO OPPOSE
THE MIGHT OF ROME. YET WAR WAS
THE SAMNITE FATE AND THE NAME OF BENEVENTO REMAINS LINKED TO TWO BATTLES,
SEPARATED BY 1500 YEARS.SHORTLY AFTER THE FIRST SAMNITE WAR, NEAR MALEVENTUM
(AS THE ROMANS CALLED IT), PYRRHUS, KING OF EPIRUS, FOUGHT HIS LAST BATTLE
AGAINST ROME. NATURALLY, THE SAMNITES WERE HIS ALLIES. IT TOOK PLACE IN 275
B.C. AND PLUTARCH GIVES A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE VARIOUS PHASES OF THE BATTLE,
WHICH ENDED UNCERTAINLY FOR THE ROMANS. HOWEVER, FROM THAT TIME ONWARDS THE
SAMNITES WERE FORCED TO BECOME ALLIES OF ROME IN OTHER WORDS, THEY WERE SUBJIUGATED
TO ROME. THIS ALLIANCE WAS SO IMPORTANT TO THE ROMANS THAT THEY IMMEDIATELY
ESTABLISHED A ROMAN COLONY IN THE TOWN AND GAVE IT THE MORE AUSPICIOUS NAME
OF BENEVENTUM. UNDER ROME, THE CITY ENJOYED A PERIOD OF GREAT PROSPERITY ON
ACCOUNT OF ITS STRATEGIC AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE, WHICH WAS ENHANCED BY
THE EXTENSION OF THE VIA APPIA. THE
ROMAN BRIDGE WE CAN SEE FROM ABOVE IS CALLED THE PONTE LEPROSO: IT CARRIED
THE VIA APPIA OVER THE RIVER SABATO. THE STRENGTH OF ITS STRUCTURE WITH ITS
MASSIVE SUPPORTING ARCHES AND THE GIGANTIC SQUARE-SET PIERS ARE IMPRESSIVE.
ITS IMPORTANCE DERIVED FROM THE FACT THAT IT PROVIDED A SHORT ROUTE TO CALABRIA
AND THEREFORE TOWARDS THE EAST, MAKING THE CITY, BETWEEN THE THIRD AND SECOND
CENTURIES B.C., A ROAD JUNCTION OF THE FIRST IMPORTANCE. DURING
THE PUNIC WARS, BENEVENTO REMAINED LOYAL TO ROME; INDEED, IT WAS NEAR TO THE
CITY THAT THE ROMANS DEFEATED HANNIBAL IN TWO EPIC BATTLES.AUGUSTUS BESTOWED
ON IT THE TITLE "COLONIA JULIA CONCORDIA AUGUSTA FELIX BENEVENTUM",
AND DIOCLETIAN MADE IT PART OF THE CAMPANIAN REGION. BENEVENTO
RETAINS CONSPICUOUS VESTIGES OF ITS ROMAN PAST. BELOW US, THE TRIUMPHAL ARCHES,
AND THE TRAJAN COLUMN ITSELF, WHICH DEPICT MILITARY ENTERPRISES, HERE THE
MARBLE RELIEFS SHOW THE EMPEROR'S PEACELOVING AND MERITORIOUS DEEDS. THEN
THERE IS THE ROMAN THEATRE. FROM THE AEROPLANE WE CAN SEE IT IN ITS ENTIRETY,
NOW THAT EXCAVATIONS HAVE REVEALED IT. THE IMPRESSIVE STRUCTURE OF THE TIERS
IS SUPPORTED BY THE POWERFUL PORTICO, WHICH SEEMS DEFIANTLY TO BRAVE THE PASSAGE
OF TIME. FROM THIS HEIGHT WE CANNOT SEE THE CRIPTO-PORTICUS, PERHAPS A GRANARY
OR WAREHOUSE, JUST AS WE CANNOT ADMIRE THE EPIGRAPHS AND THE SCULPTURES, WHICH
ARE TODAY ALL HOUSED IN THE MUSEO DEL SANNIO. AFTER
THE ROMANS, BENEVENTO REMAINED A ROAD JUNCTION OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE DURING
THE MIDDLE AGES. BELISARIUS WRESTED IT AWAY FROM THE GOTHS, WHO MANAGED TO
RETAKE IT SHORTLY AFTERWARDS. IT WAS UNDER THE LATTERS RULE THAT BENEVENTO
ATTAINED ITS GREATEST SPLENDOUR. PERHAPS SOME RACIAL AFFINITY EXISTED BETWEEN
THE CONQUERORS AND THE LOCAL INHABITANTS, BOTH FROM THE NORTH, FOR BENEVENTO
BECAME THE NATURAL CAPITAL OF THE DUCHY ESTABLISHED BY THE LOMBARDS, IN 571,
WITH ZOTTONE. THE LOMBARDS WERE NOT GREAT SAILORS AND UNDER THEIR RULE TOWNS
WITH MARITIME TRADITIONS FELL INTO DECLINE. NOR WERE THEY OVERFOND OF THE
CLEARGY: HERE THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WAS FOUGHT OUT MORE
BITTERLY THAN ELSEWHERE. IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY. AFTER BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND
MONKS WERE SLAUGHTERED, ALL ECCLESIASTICAL ACTIVITY WAS HALTED. THE LOMBARDS
WERE PAGANS, AND WORSHIPPED TREES AND THE SERPENT. YET AFTER THE VICTORY OF
THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR, WHO WANTED TO TAKE POSSESSION OF THE DUCHY, ROMUALDO
I FULFILLED HIS VOW: HE PULLED DOWN THE TREES, DELIVERED OVER THE SERPENT
AND BECAME A CHRISTIAN ALONG WITH ALL HIS SUBJECTS. MONASTERIES AND ABBEYS
BEGAN TO FLOURISH. THE GREAT
ARCHITECTURAL COMPLEX BELOW US, WITH THE SUN SHINING ON IT AND OUTLINING ITS
FORMS, IS THE CHURCH OF SANTA SOFIA, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LOMBARD CONSTRUCTIONS
IN ITALY, AND FOUNDED BY POLYGONAL GROUNDPLAN WITH ITS DOUBLE CIRCLE OF COLUMNS
SUPPORTING VAULTS OF VARIOUS KINDS ROUND A CENTRAL OPENING SURMOUNTED BY A
HIGH DRUM. THE INTERIOR CONSERVES RECORDS OF BENEVENTAN HISTORY: THERE ARE
MEMORIALS TO PAOLO DIACONO AND DESIDERIUS OF MONTECASSINO, THE BENEVENTAN
MONK WHO BECAME POPE VICTOR III. THE
BEAUTIFUL CLOISTER WE CAN SEE ADIOINING THE CHURCH WAS ADDED LATER; IT DATES
BACK TO THE TWELFTH CENTURY, BY WHICH TIME THE CITY BELONGED TO THE PAPACY.
IT IS DIVIDED INTO FOURARCHED APERTURES WITH MOORISH ARCHES AND FRESCOES ON
THE UNDERSIDES OF THE ARCHES. HERE THE MUSEO DEL SANNIO IS HOUSED. UNFORTUNATELY,
LITTLE REMAINS OF THE LOMBARD PERIOD APART FROM A NECROPOLIS AND THE WALLS
TO THE SOUTH OF THE TOWN. THE CATHEDRAL TOO WE CAN SEE ITS IMPOSING STRUCTURE
FROM ABOVE WAS FOUNDED BY THEM IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY, BUT SUBSEQUENTLY THE
CHURCH ENTIRELY REBUILT IT IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. AFTER
CHARLEMAGNE'S FRANKS HAD REPLACED THE LOMBARDS IN NORTHERN ITALY, AND ITS
DUKE ARICHIS II HAD SUCCEEDED, IN A PIECE OF SKILFUL DIPLOMACY, IN MAINTAINING
THE INDEPENDENT STATUS OF THE LOMBARD DOMINION IN SOUTHERN ITALY, BENEVENTO
SAW THE SEAT OF GEVERNEMENT TRANSFERRED TO SALERNO.TWO CENTURIES LATER, IN
ORDER TO PROTECT ITSELF AGAINST THE NORMANS, IT VOLUNTARILY DELIVERED ITSELF
OVER TO THE POPE, WHO RULED THE CITY BY APPOINTING RECTORS.THE BEAUTIFUL MEDIEVAL
BUILDING WE CAN SEE THE PALACE OF THE RECTORS, CONSTRUCTED AT THE SAME TIME
AS THE CATHEDRAL, OF WHICH WE CAN SEE THE MARVELLOUS BELLTOWER. THE DOORPANELS
ARE IN BRONZE LIKE THE THRONE OF SAN BARBATO, AND ARE TWO MASTERPIECES OF
BRONZE CASTING. THE PULPITS TOO ARE EXCEPTIONAL. THE
KINGS OF NAPLES AND SICILY DID NOT FAIL TO CLAIM THE CITY FOR THEMSELVES.
FREDERICK II OF SWABIA TOOK POSSESSION OF IT, AND HIS SON MANFRED LOST HIS
LIFE IN THE FAMOUS BATTLE OF BENEVENTO IN 1266, FIGHTING AGAINST CHARLES I
OF ANJOU. HIS BODY WAS BURIED NEAR TO THE POINT ACROSS THE RIVER CALORE WHERE
VANVITELLI LATER BUILT A BRIDGE.
