Melito Irpino

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Melito Irpino is a town and comune in the province of Avellino, in the Campania region of southern Italy. It covers about 20.7 square kilometers and sits at an elevation of 461 meters. As of 2017, about 1,900 people lived there. The town includes the hamlets of Cozza, Fontana del Bosco, and Incoronata. Melito Irpino lies in the northern part of Avellino, by the Ufita river, and borders Apice, Ariano Irpino, Bonito, and Grottaminarda. It is 5 km from Grottaminarda, 9 km from Ariano Irpino, 30 km from Benevento, and 48 km from Avellino; the nearest motorway exit is in Grottaminarda on the A16 Napoli-Bari. The town is part of the Catholic Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia.

Remains discovered in 1880 point to its ancient past. Some theories say Melito was a suburb of Aeclanum, but the prevailing view is that it was the ancient village of Melae (or Melas). In Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita, Melae is described as having been destroyed in 215 BC during the Second Punic War by the forces of Claudius Marcellus and Quintus Fabius.