Avellino  listen (help·info) is a town and comune, capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains 42 km (26 mi) north-east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento.

Before the Roman conquest, the ancient Abellinum was a centre of the Samnite Hirpini.

The town was Christianized around 500 AD, becoming an episcopal seat. There followed the invasions of the Goths and Vandals. Subsequently Avellino became a Lombard centre, with a castle on the Terra hill. In the early Middle Ages it was part of the Duchy (later Principality) of Benevento and, after the latter’s fall, of the Principality of Salerno.

In 1100, during the Norman rule of southern Italy, it was acquired by Riccardo dell’Aquila. Later King Charles I of Anjou assigned it to the Montfort family, who were succeeded by the Del Balzo and the Filangierian of the House of Candia.

The feudal rights to Avellino were purchased in 1581 by Don Marino I Caracciolo, duke of Atripalda, of a patrician family of Naples, who was made Prince of Avellino in 1589. Avellino became the main seat of the Caracciolo. Don Marino’s son and grandson were consecutively Grand Chancellor of the Kingdom of Naples and chevaliers of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The grandson, Don Marino II (1587–1630), was the patron of Giambattista Basile, author of the Pentamerone.