The Patron
San Sabino di Avellino
Kept on 16 September. The mother church carries his name alongside Sant'Ippolisto.
— Castellesi
CASTELLESI COMUNE
Avellino,
Campania
The Roman city that Avellino is named after stood here.
Atripalda stands on the Sabato , a few kilometres from Avellino and effectively continuous with it.
It is the older of the two. Roman Abellinum — Sulla's colony of 82 BC, and the origin of the name Avellino — stood on the tufa plateau called Civita on this town's northwest edge, not under the modern capital. Atripalda was made a city by royal decree on 18 July 1867 .
The Name
Atrepald, a Lombard landowner
The toponym comes from a Germanic personal name — a Lombard noble of Avellino who held wide estates in the Sabato valley. Older writers confused it with Tropoaldo, a fortified place on the Ufita, and the two rivers with it.
The Landmark
Specus Martyrum
The martyrs' crypt beneath the chiesa madre, counted among the major monuments of early Christian archaeology in southern Italy.
Did you know?
A CITY BY ROYAL DECREE
Close enough to the capital to be mistaken for it
Atripalda stands a few kilometres from Avellino on the same river, in the same diocese and the same district, and was given the title of city by royal decree on 18 July 1867. The proximity is the research problem: a family recorded as being from the Avellino area may be Atripaldese, and the two sets of registers are separate.
LA PARLATA
How they speak
Italian is standard, and local speech is the Irpinian variety of Campanian, close to that of Avellino itself. Atripaldesi is the demonym.
Abellinum, on the tufa above the Sabato
On the tufa plateau called Civita , on the northwest edge of the modern town, stood Abellinum — a Samnite settlement, then the Roman colony Sulla founded in 82 BC , and the origin of the name the whole province now carries. Avellino is named for a city that stood on Atripalda's ground.
Its population kept changing. Sulla settled discharged soldiers inside the walls; veterans of Augustus came later; and between 220 and 230 AD veterans of Alexander Severus arrived from Asia Minor. The older Sabatine people of the valley were absorbed into it by degrees, taking the Latin language with them.
Christianity left the town its most remarkable monument. The Specus Martyrum , the martyrs' crypt beneath the chiesa madre of Sant'Ippolisto , is counted among the major works of early Christian archaeology in southern Italy, and San Sabino has been the town's patron ever since.
The name is Lombard: Atrepald , a noble of Avellino who held wide estates along the Sabato. The Caracciolo held the town from 1564 until the abolition of feudalism in 1806 , and it was given the title of city by royal decree on 18 July 1867 . The earthquake of 1980 killed three people here and left 1,549 without a home — fifteen per cent of the town.
Postcards from Atripalda
Wear Atripalda
Carry your heritage with pride. Timeless designs inspired by the heart of Avellino.
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Where this
belongs
belongs
PROVINCIA DI AVELLINO
Discover the beauty, culture and traditions of Avellino and its remarkable comuni.
EXPLORE AVELLINO →REGIONE CAMPANIA
From the mountains to the sea, Campania is a region of history, flavor and soul.
EXPLORE CAMPANIA →From the passenger index
At least 1,965 people who gave Atripalda as their home are recorded by name among Italian arrivals in the United States — each with the ship they sailed on and the day they landed.
A floor, not a total. The index covers arrivals through 1912, holds nothing between May 1907 and December 1911, and many passengers were written down with no home town at all. Where a name is there, it is there with its record.
Have Orso look for your family →Ready to visit
Civita, and the crypt beneath the church
Getting there
The nearest major airport is Naples International Airport (Capodichino).
Atripalda is a short walk or a very short drive from Avellino, and the two run into each other. What distinguishes it is underground and very old.
Begin at the chiesa di Sant'Ippolisto and go down into the Specus Martyrum beneath it. Then walk up onto Civita , the tufa plateau on the northwest edge of the town, where Roman Abellinum stood — the city that gave Avellino its name, on Atripalda's ground.
The Museo Irpino in Avellino holds much of what has come out of the site, and is worth the few minutes it takes to reach.
The comuni of the Sabato valley — Manocalzati , Cesinali , San Potito Ultra — are all within minutes, and all in the same diocese.
What to see
La chiesa di Sant'Ippolisto — the mother church, over the martyrs' crypt.
Lo Specus Martyrum — one of the major early Christian monuments of the south.
Civita — the tufa plateau where Roman Abellinum stood.
L'area archeologica di Abellinum — Sulla's colony of 82 BC.
Il fiume Sabato — the river the town was built along.
Il Museo Irpino — in Avellino, holding much of what came out of the site.
A day here
Morning
Begin in the chiesa madre of Sant'Ippolisto and go down into the Specus Martyrum beneath it — the martyrs' crypt, and one of the most important early Christian monuments in the south of Italy.
Midday
Walk up onto Civita, the tufa plateau on the northwest edge of town. Roman Abellinum stood here: Sulla's colony of 82 BC, and the origin of the name the whole province now carries.
Afternoon
Go into Avellino to the Museo Irpino, where much of what has been excavated from the site is held, then come back along the Sabato.
Late afternoon
Walk the town itself — a place of ten thousand people that was given the title of city in 1867, and that lost fifteen per cent of its housing in a single night in 1980.
Before you leave
Stand on the plateau at the end of the day and look down at the modern town. The Roman city is the one that is famous, and it is the one under your feet, not the one over the hill.
Family history
Where the records are
Archives and registers
Atripalda and Avellino adjoin and are constantly confused. Their civil registers are separate. Search both.
Related places
Keep exploring
The journey does not end at the boundary of one comune. The province, the region and the neighbouring towns often hold the rest of the picture.
Your Roots. Their Story. Your Place.
Atripalda is more than a place on a map. It is a part of you.
FIND YOUR COMUNE →