Irpinia (Modern Latin ''Hirpinia'') is a geographical and cultural region of

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

. It was the inland territory of the ancient ''

Hirpini The Hirpini (Latin: ') were an ancient Samnite tribe of Southern Italy. While generally regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation. They inhabited the southern portion of Samnium, in the more ...

'' tribe, and its extent matches approximately today's

province of Avellino The Province of Avellino ( it, Provincia di Avellino) is a province in the Campania region of Southern Italy. The area is characterized by numerous small towns and villages scattered across the province; only two towns have a population over 20,0 ...

Geography

The territory is largely mountainous, with an intricate network of hills and valleys and a predominantly

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

Karst topography Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

. To the north-east, however, the rocks are mostly

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, and the land's elevation is relatively lower. Irpinia is centred on the section of the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

which spans from the northern to the springs of the

Sele River The Sele is a river in southwestern Italy. Originating from the Monti Picentini in Caposele,Meaning "top of the Sele" it flows through the region of Campania, in the provinces of Salerno and Avellino. Its mouth is in the Gulf of Salerno, on the ...

; the highest peak is

Mount Avella Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, Co ...

(1,591 m). To the south are the

Picentini Mountains 300px, Rocky limestone landscape in the monti Picentini. The Monti Picentini is a mountain range and national park in southern Italy, part of the Apennines, traditionally part in the Campanian Apennines. They are included between the Monti Latt ...

, which include the highest peak of the region, Mount Cervialto (1,809 m). Irpinia is bordered on the east by the

Ofanto The Ofanto (), known in ancient times as Aufidus or Canna, is a river in southern Italy that flows through the regions of Campania, Basilicata, and Apulia, into the Gulf of Manfredonia near Barletta. Geography The river's source is on the Irpi ...

valley, while to the north it merges with Sannio and

Daunia The Daunians ( el, Δαύνιοι, Daúnioi; la, Daunii) were an Iapygian tribe that inhabited northern Apulia in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Messapians, inhabited central and southern Apulia respectivel ...

History

The name "Irpinia" derives from the

Oscan Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian. Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including th ...

word "hirpus", which means wolf, and the wolf remains Irpinia's symbol to this day. Oscan tribes of the

Sabines The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divid ...

, under demographic pressure, migrated towards this area in the 6th century BC from what is now

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

. The

occupied the region Sabato, Calore, and Ofanto, becoming differentiated with time from the

Samnites The Samnites () were an ancient Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. An Oscan-speaking people, who may have originated as an offshoot of the Sabines, they for ...

who settled the area from

Molise Molise (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Neapolitan, Mulise) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise, alongside the region of Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effe ...

and

Matese The Matese (Italian: Monti del Matese or Massiccio del Matese) is a chain of mountains in southern Apennines, southern Italy. Geography The Matese mountains straddle two regions (Molise and Campania) and four provinces (Campobasso, Isernia, Ben ...

. The main centres of the Hirpini were ''Maloenton'' (modern

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' 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 ...

), ''

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

'' (

Mirabella Eclano Mirabella Eclano is an Italian town and ''comune'' of the province of Avellino, in the Southern Italian Campania region. its population was of 7,904. History The Roman site of Aeclanum once stood nearby. It is now an archaeological park and li ...

), ''

Aequum Tuticum Aequum Tuticum was a Roman vicus in southern Italy, about 35 km east-northeast of Beneventum. The site lies beside Saint Eleuterio hamlet, overlooking at an elevation of 575 m, about 15 km north of the modern Ariano Irpino, within Ir ...

'' (

Ariano Irpino Ariano Irpino (formerly Ariano di Puglia or simply Ariano) is an Italian city and municipality in the province of Avellino, in the Campania region. With a population of 22,535 (2017), it is the second-largest settlement of the Irpinia district an ...

), ' (near

Roseto Valfortore Roseto Valfortore (Irpino: ) is a small town and ''comune'' of the Province of Foggia, in the Apulia Region of southeastern Italy. Located in the Daunian Mountains near Fortore springs, Roseto Valfortore is awarded ''"I Borghi più belli d'Itali ...

), ''Trivicum'' (

Trevico Trevico is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. Located in the Apennines upon a steep hill at 3,576 feet (1,090 m) altitude, Trevico is the highest inhabited place in Campania. Its main produce are hams, ch ...

), ''Compsa'' (

Conza Conza della Campania (or Conza di Campania; formerly called Compsa, commonly known as Conza (Campanian: )) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and former Latin Catholic (arch)bishopric in the province of Avellino in the region of Campania in souther ...

), ''Aquilonia'' (

Lacedonia Lacedonia ( Irpinian: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania region, southern Italy, overlooking the Osento River which flows into the Lago di San Pietro (Lake of Saint Peter), an artificial lake. The town is part of the Roman ...

), and ''Abellinum'' (

Atripalda Atripalda is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. History The town is the home of the ruins of ''Abellinum'', the Ancient Rome, Ancient Roman Avellino. A large than life-size Roman marble statue of a veil ...

). No certain date for the arrival of the Hiripini in the region can be given. They were already settled here at the time of the

First Samnite War The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanian tribe. ...

(342 BC). Their name is found in sources from 280 BC, when the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

general

Pyrrhus of Epirus Pyrrhus (; grc-gre, Πύρρος ; 319/318–272 BC) was a Greek king and statesman of the Hellenistic period.Plutarch. ''Parallel Lives'',Pyrrhus... He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house, and later he becam ...

made his expedition into Italy. A bronze medal reveals that they signed an alliance with the Samnites in 275 BC. ''Maloenton'' was early conquered by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, which renamed it ''Beneventum'' and transformed it into a colony in 268 BC. The Hirpini suffered internal divisions at the time of the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...

. Caius Marius gave them Roman citizenship in 87 BC, but they were deprived of any privilege under the former's victor,

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had ...

(80 BC). Some Roman roads passed through Hirpini's territory:

Via Appia The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, rec ...

, ,

Via Traiana Via Appia ''(white)'' and Via Traiana ''(red)'' The Via Traiana was an ancient Roman road. It was built by the emperor Trajan as an extension of the Via Appia from Beneventum, reaching Brundisium (Brindisi) by a shorter route (i.e. via Canusiu ...

, and few other ones. After the fall of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...

, Irpinia came successively under Byzantine, Lombard,

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France * County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France **Duk ...

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

ese and finally

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

domination. As part of the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

it was included in the ''Principato Ultra'' or ''Ulterior'', one of the few land-locked province of the kingdom. Feudalism was abolished in 1806, the same year in which Avellino was declared capital of the province. Irpinia became part of the newly united

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

in 1861. The district has been subject to a number of strong earthquakes. On November 23, 1980, the 6.9

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

affected the area with a maximum

Mercalli intensity The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...

of X (''Extreme''), killing 2,483–4,900, and injuring 7,700–8,934.

Traditional produce and tourist sites

Irpinia has a proud tradition of producing wines such as Fiano di Avellino,

Greco di Tufo Greco is an Italian wine grape that may be of Greek origin. The name relates to both white ''(Greco bianco)'' and black ''(Greco nero)'' grape varieties. While there is more land area dedicated to ''Greco nero'', the ''Greco bianco'' is the gra ...

and

Taurasi Taurasi is a town and municipality in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. In antiquity it was a town in Samnium. The town's name probably derives from the Latin ''Taurus''. Over time it changed from ''Taurasos'' to ''Taurasia ...

, all of which are classified as

DOCG The following four classifications of wine constitute the Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine: * ''Denominazione di origine'' (DO, rarely used; ; English: “designation of origin”), * ''Indicazione geografica tipi ...

. Its cheeses, including

scamorza Scamorza () is a Southern Italian cow's milk cheese. It can also be made from other milks, but that is less common. It is a stretched-curd cheese, in which the fresh curd matures in its own whey for several hours to allow acidity to develop th ...

and

caciocavallo Caciocavallo is a type of stretched-curd cheese made out of sheep's or cow's milk. It is produced throughout Southern Italy, particularly in the Apennine Mountains and in the Gargano peninsula. Shaped like a teardrop, it is similar in taste to t ...

, have a high reputation. Irpinia's

salami Salami ( ) is a cured sausage consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork. Historically, salami was popular among Southern, Eastern, and Central European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for up to 45 days ...

( Sopressata) and

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

s are popular, as are its

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

s, its

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according t ...

s and the black

truffle A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including ''Geopora'', ''Peziz ...

s of

Bagnoli Irpino Bagnoli Irpino is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, Italy. The bordering municipalities of Bagnoli are Acerno, Calabritto, Caposele, Lioni, Montella and Nusco. The only ''frazione'' is Laceno Laceno is an Italia ...

. Tourist amenities are the ski resort Laceno, with a lake near Mount Terminio, and some villages. The most popular Irpinia's town is

, which lies on the top of three steep hills and is provided with ancient sights (a medieval castle and a romanic cathedral), some museums, majolica shops and traditional restaurants. Other noteworthy centers are

(with the ancient town

), Gesualdo (with the castle which was the home of the "prince of musicians"

Carlo Gesualdo Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa ( – 8 September 1613) was Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza. As a composer he is known for writing madrigals and pieces of sacred music that use a chromatic language not heard again until the late 19th century ...

Rocca San Felice Rocca San Felice is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. Geography Located in the central area of Irpinia, the municipality borders with Frigento, Guardia Lombardi, Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, Sturno and Villa ...

(Mefitis'site),

Calitri Calitri ( la, Caletrium or ; Irpino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, Italy. Overview Calitri is in Campania near the borders of the regions of Apulia and Basilicata. It is approximately above sea level so on ...

(Castle village) and

Zungoli Zungoli is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy, about from the town of Avellino. Located in Irpinia historical district between the Ufita Valley and Daunian Mountains, Zungoli is awarded two quality ma ...

(a well preserved Medieval town). Among the religious sanctuaries there are Montevergine (

Mercogliano Mercogliano is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. Geography Mercogliano is a hill town located near the western suburb of Avellino and below the mount Partenio (or Montevergine). The municipality ...

), the Shrine of St. Gerard (

Caposele Caposele (Irpino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, Italy. The town was seriously damaged by the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. It borders with Calabritto, Bagnoli Irpino, Lioni, Teora, Conza della Campania, Castelnuov ...

), the Sanctuary of Carpignano (

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 ...

), and the (

); the latter is located near an ancient mill in a green valley, where in the Middle Age the Madonna showed up.

References

External links

Irpinia Stories: English language blog about Irpinia

Irpinia land

A tour in Irpinia: discovering the villages and typical foods
{{Authority control Geographical, historical and cultural regions of Italy Geography of Campania Province of Avellino

Geography

History

Traditional produce and tourist sites

See also

References

External links