Benevento
[key], city, capital of Benevento prov., in Campania, S Italy. It is a
trade center for wine and tobacco. It is basically an impoverished area with
little industry. A leading town of Samnium, Benevento became under the
Romans an important trade center on the Appian Way. It was the capital of a
powerful Lombard duchy (6th–11th cent.) that extended over much of S
Italy. Except for short periods of foreign occupation, the city was under
papal rule from the 11th cent. to 1860. In 1266, Charles of Anjou defeated
Manfred, King of Sicily, near Benevento. Noteworthy structures of the city
include the cathedral (11th–13th cent., restored after being severely
damaged in World War II); a triumphal arch erected (a.d. 114) for
Trajan; a Roman theater (2d cent. b.c.); and the Church of Santa
Sofia, with a 12th-century cloister.
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