Discover 15 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Benevento (Italy). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Arch of Trajan, Rocca dei Rettori, and Benevento Cathedral. Also, be sure to include Santa Sofia in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Benevento (Campania).
Table of Contents
Arch of Trajan
Also known as: Arco di Traiano
Landmark Roman triumphal arch. The Arch of Trajan is an ancient Roman triumphal arch in Benevento, southern Italy. It was erected in honour of the Emperor Trajan across the Via Appia, at the point where it enters the city.[1]
Address: Via Traiano, 82100 Benevento
Rocca dei Rettori
Museum in Benevento, Italy. Rocca dei Rettori is a castle in Benevento, southern Italy. It currently houses the Museum of the Samnium.[2]
Address: Piazza Castello, 82100 Benevento
Benevento Cathedral
Also known as: Duomo di Benevento
Cathedral in Benevento, Italy. Benevento Cathedral is a church in Benevento, southern Italy. The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishops of Benevento. It dates from the Lombard foundation of the Duchy of Benevento, in the late 8th century, but after its destruction during Allied bombings in the course of World War II, it was largely rebuilt in the 1960s.[3]
Address: Corso Garibaldi, 211, 82100 Benevento
Santa Sofia
Catholic church in Benevento, Italy. Santa Sofia is a Roman Catholic church in the town of Benevento, in the region of Campania, in southern Italy; founded in the late-8th century, it retains many elements of its original Lombard architecture.
In 2011, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a group of seven inscribed as Longobards in Italy. Places of the power (568-774 A.D.).[4]
San Bartolomeo
Basilica in Benevento, Italy. San Bartolomeo Apostolo is a Roman Catholic basilica church located in piazza Federico Torre, along corso Garibaldi, in Benevento, region of Campania, Italy.[5]
Address: Corso Garibaldi, 82100 Benevento
Roman Theatre
Also known as: Teatro romano di Benevento
Performing arts theater in Benevento, Italy. The Roman Theatre is an ancient Roman edifice in Benevento, southern Italy. It was built in the 2nd century by emperor Hadrian near the city's cardo maximus. Abandoned in Lombard times, it is now surrounded by the medieval Rione Triggio.
The structures is still used for concerts, representations and other spectacles.[6]
Address: Piazza Ponzio Telesino, 82037 Benevento
Palazzo Paolo V
The Paul V Palace is a building in Benevento, located along Corso Garibaldi. It was the municipal seat from the period of Benevento's pontifical rule until the 1980 earthquake.
Address: Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi 147, Benevento
Church of San Domenico
Also known as: Chiesa di San Domenico
The church of San Domenico is a Baroque church in Benevento; it is located in Piazza Guerrazzi. A convent is attached to it, which is now the seat of the Rectorate of the University of Sannio. Its garden houses Mimmo Paladino's Hortus Conclusus.
Address: Piazza Guerrazzi 1, 82100 Benevento
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Verità
The church of Santa Maria della Verità is located in the city of Benevento in Piazza Caio Ponzio Telesino, in the Triggio district. It is built on the ruins of Benevento's Roman theater. It was called, and some still call it today, the new parish.
It was erected in 1782 by Cardinal Francesco Maria Banditi, archbishop of Benevento, on the ancient lamioni of the Theater. It bears his coat of arms and the following inscription: LAPIDE REMEMBERING THE CONSECRATION OF THE CHURCH / SANTA MARIA DELLA VERITA / ARCHBISHOP CARDINAL BANDITI / YEAR 1782
Templum parochiale / olim S.Jacobi ap. Sacrum / mox Mariae vergini dicatum sub tit. veritatis / bis terraemotibus obrutum / F.M. Banditus Ariminensis / S.R. E. card. et arch. Beneventanus / ne parochialis curae munera / ecclesiae cathedralis / in qua ab annis LXXIX temporarie peragenbantur / statos ritus perturbarent / a fundamentis sua impensa excitandum / propre vetus amphitheatrum / expiata loci superstitione / cum omni ornamento curavit idemque dedicavit / anno a Christo nato MDCCLXXXII / dominica II post Pascha.
Renovations were carried out between 1920 and 1921 because of the damage it had sustained from moisture. A second renovation was carried out after the damage caused by the war events of 1943 and the 1980 earthquake.
Address: Via Port'Arsa, n.36, 82100 Benevento
Basilica della Madonna delle Grazie
Church
Address: Viale San Lorenzo 8, 82100 Benevento
Church of del Carmine
Also known as: Chiesa del Carmine
The church of Santa Maria del Carmine, commonly called St. Anne's, is located in the city of Benevento on Corso Garibaldi.
Church of the Santissimo Salvatore
Also known as: Chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore
The Church of the Holy Savior is located on Stefano Borgia Street in the city of Benevento.
Video - description of the church: click here
The church has three naves, separated by a double row of ancient Roman columns of gray granite. Of early medieval origin, as proven by documents and confirmed by recent archaeological findings (which came to light during excavations conducted by the Superintendency) it was severely damaged by several earth tremors. In 1650 Giovan Battista Roscio renovated and adorned it, thus obtaining its patronage rights.
A plaque was set on the main door to commemorate this munificence, and it is currently walled in the chancel behind the 19th-century organ. The text of the plaque reads thus, "D.O.M. ECCLESIAM HANC, / QUAM ALEXANDER PASTOR / ESIMIA PIETATIS, ET OMIGENAE ERUDITIONIS PAROCHUS / MORTE PRAEVENTUS / REFICIENDAM RELIQUIT, / IOANNES BAPTISTA ROSCIUS PATRITIUS BENEVENTANUS / EMIN.MI FRANCISCI BARBARICI S. R. E. CARDINALIS, / VICE CANCELLARIIS, EPISCOPI SABINENSIS, / S.SOPHIAE ABBATIS, ET PERPETUI COMMENDATARIIS / VICARIUS GENERALIS / AD DEI LAUDEM. / PERFECIT, ORNAVIT. / ANNO IUBIAEI / MDCL."
The church was one of the oldest parishes in Benevento, to which, in 1661, that of St. Peter in Caballo, which has now disappeared, was annexed. Currently, SS. Salvatore is dependent on the parish of St. Sophia.
The earthquake of June 5, 1688 severely damaged it, but it was renovated and re-consecrated by Cardinal Orsini (future Pope Benedict XIII) on April 18, 1696,as attested by the epigraph on the plaque walled on the back wall of the right aisle: "ECCLESIAM HANC SSMO SERVATORIS SACRAM TERRAE / VI AÑO MDCLXXXVIII DIE. V.IUNIJ DEVASTATA / ET PAROCHIANORUM COLLATO AERE, ET ARCHIEPISCOPI / ELEMOSYNIS DECENTIUS REFECTAM, AC CONXINNATA / SOLEMNI RITU DEDICANS DIE XXVIIII. APRILIS / MDCXCVI. CV UNICA ARA SACRAVIT FR. VINCENTIUS / MARIA ORD. PREDIC. CARD URSINUS ARCHIEPISCOPUS / ET OMNIBUS FIDBUS IMPSAM VISITANTIBUS DOMENICA II. / POSTA PASCA IN QUAM DEDICAONIS FESTŬ TRANSTULIT / CENTUM INDULGENTIAE DIES CONCESSIT".
On September 14, 1884, as the epigraph on a plaque currently resting on the altar in the left aisle attests, the church was reconsecrated by Bishop Antonio Scotti, after other renovations promoted by Rector Angelo Ucci had been carried out there. "DUO MINORA ALTARIA DICATA UNUM SACRAE FAMILIAE / ET ALTERUM B. M.V. DE ARCU COMPOSITA FUERUNT PAR / TIM PAROCHIANORUM AERE ET PARTIM EXPENSIS ANGELI / UCCI HUIUS ECCLESIAE RECTORIS QUI ETIAM FERE SUIS SUM / PTIBUS IPSAM SQUALORE CONFECTAM MAXIMA EX PARTE RE / STAURAVIT TURRI CAMPANARIA ET ORGANO DOTAVIT. EXCELUS / VERO D.US ANTONIUS SCOTTI EPUS SAREPTAN ET AUXILIARIS SO / SOLEMNI RITU ET MAGNA POPULI FREQUENTIA HAEC MINORA AL / TARIA CONSACRAVIT DIE 14 SEMPTEMBRIS ANNI MDCCCLXXXIV / ET OMNIBUS CHRISTI FIDELIBUS QUOVIS ANNO DIE PRAEDICTA / HAEC VISITANTIBUS QUADRAGINTA INDULGENTIARUM DIES CONCESSIT".
The Church of the Savior, closed after the 1962 earthquake because of the severe damage it suffered, was reopened for worship in 2001, at the end of a series of restorations that restored its dignity and charm. Completed in 1999, the restorations were conservative restorations, but, at the same time, they aimed to leave visible, as in a "stratigraphy," the traces of the modifications that the religious building has undergone over the many centuries of its history.
At the garden wall of the parish house, a small plaque could be seen on which was inscribed: OLIM TEMPLUM S. QUIRICI NUNC SIGNUM SIMPLICIS BENEFICII 1760.
As this inscription attests, and as medieval writers (Falcone Beneventano) confirm, a church dedicated to St. Quirico stood nearby.
Address: Via Stefano Borgia, 82100 Benevento
Church of San Filippo Neri
Also known as: Chiesa di San Filippo Neri
The baroque-style church of San Filippo Neri is located in the city of Benevento, between Rione Triggio and Rione Fravola.
Address: Via S. Filippo, 59, 82100 Benevento
Cripta di San Marco dei Sabariani
The church of St. Mark of the Sabarians was a medieval church in Benevento, placed under the iuspatronage of the Sabariani family and dedicated to St. Mark of Eca, whose relics it may have held. The building occupied part of what is now Piazza Salvatore Sabariani, and was destroyed in the Sannio earthquake of 1688. Its crypt remains, containing important frescoes of the Benevento school, from the Lombard period or immediately following; discovered in 2007, it is currently in a state of neglect and at serious risk of deterioration.
Address: Via Giovanni de Vita, 24, 82100 Benevento
Church of San Donato
Also known as: Chiesa di San Donato
The church of San Donato is located in the city of Benevento, in the Fravola Ward, once populated by various parishes, monasteries and churches.
The church has a single nave, on either side of which are two chapels with altars to St. Nicholas, St. Anne, and the Holy Rosary.
In the largo in front of the church stands a fountain (also called the strawberry fountain or fravola) with two spouts.
Address: Piazza S. Donato, 8, 82100 Benevento