Diocese in the Province of Avellino, Southern Italy. The city was established by the Lombards at an unknown period. There are sulphurous springs in its vicinity. In 1664 it was almost completely destroyed. It became an episcopal see under Gregory VII, but its first known bishop is Thomas, in 1179, when the see was a suffragan of Conza. In 1540 under the episcopate of Rinaldo de' Cancellieri, it was united to the Diocese of Bisaccia (the ancient Romulea), a Samnite town captured by the Romans in 295 B.C.; it appears first as a bishopric in 1179. Another of its prelates, Ignazio Cianti, O.P. (1646), was distinguished for his learning. In 1818 it was incorporated with the See of Monteverde, the earliest known bishop of which is Mario (1049), and which in 1531 was united to the Archdiocese of Canne and Nazareth, from which it has been again separated. The see contains 9 parishes with 40,000 souls, 45 secular priests, and some religious, 3 monastic establishments, and a girls' school.

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