Benevento is a city and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 metres (427 feet) above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato. It is also the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop. Around Benevento there is an urban area with 110,000 inhabitants. Benevento occupies the site of the ancient Beneventum, originally Maleventum or still earlier Maloenton. The meaning of the name of the town is evidenced by its former Latin name, translating as good or fair wind. In the imperial period it was supposed to have been founded by Diomedes after the Trojan War. Due to its artistic and cultural significance, the Santa Sofia Church in Benevento was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011, as part of a group of seven historic buildings inscribed as Longobards in Italy, Places of Power (568–774 A.D.). A patron saint of Benevento is Saint Bartholomew, the Apostle, whose relics are kept here at the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta.
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