Campania · Benevento
Benevento
Sannio capital at the Calore-Sabato confluence, with a 114 AD Trajan arch and a Lombard rotunda on the UNESCO list.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Benevento is on our list
It holds UNESCO, Città del Vino and Città dei Liquori.
Subscribe and you get Benevento's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 24 min from Salerno
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 55,712
- J12°
- F14°
- M15°
- A19°
- M24°
- J30°
- J34°
- A33°
- S28°
- O23°
- N17°
- D14°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Benevento sits at the confluence of the Calore and Sabato rivers, fifty-five kilometers northeast of Naples, the historic capital of the Sannio. The Lombard Duchy of Benevento was founded in 571, well before the small circular church that survives from around 760, and the city center still carries that double layer of Roman provincial capital and Lombard duchy seat. Walking from the cathedral down Corso Garibaldi, past the cloister sculptures set against the medieval wall, ends at the triumphal arch, so the route itself moves from the Lombard and medieval town toward the point where the Roman road left for Brindisi.
The countryside around the city is Aglianico del Taburno wine and the herbal liqueur distilled here since 1860. What holds the city together is this sequence along one line of streets: two civic identities, Roman and Lombard, laid end to end and still walkable in that order.
How to get there
From Naples (NAP), about 1 h 25 min by car.
Bari (BRI) is about 2 h 27 min away.
By car from the center of Salerno 1 h 24 min, Naples 1 h 29 min or Bari 2 h 31 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Naples?
Coming by train into Salerno? Benevento is about 1 h 27 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Naples airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Arco di Traiano
The marble reliefs facing the town show Trajan's peacetime policy, those facing the road out of the city his military and provincial deeds, a pairing read as deliberate rather than decorative. The Via Traiana ran from this point to Brindisi.
Chiesa di Santa Sofia
The circular plan is unusual for the period, and the interior keeps traces of the original Lombard fabric beneath later additions. It stands apart from the rectangular churches common elsewhere in the city.
Teatro Romano
Roman theater inaugurated under Hadrian in 126 and enlarged under Caracalla, capacity for ten thousand spectators, still used for summer performances.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria de Episcopio
Romanesque cathedral with a thirteenth-century bell tower set with ancient Roman reliefs, rebuilt after wartime bombing and reopened in the 1960s.
Hortus Conclusus
Permanent open-air installation by Mimmo Paladino completed in 1992 in the cloister of San Domenico, sculptures set against the medieval wall.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Albori Ristorante & BarBistrot
Albori Ristorante & Bar carries two Gambero Rosso tables.
AlimentaBistrot
A Gambero Rosso listing, at Alimenta.
Sapori RistoranteRistorante
A Gambero Rosso listing, at Sapori Ristorante.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Benevento is a city.
- A city of 55,712 people, and a provincial capital: the services are here, not a drive away.
- A station of its own, so the rest of Italy is a train ride away.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 55,712, down 7.4% since 2015
- Train station in the comune
- A national health service hospital in the comune · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €800 to €1,550 per m² to buy, €3.80 to €6.40 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- A local hub
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 93% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Naples airport (NAP), 1 h 25 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Naples, 1 h 29 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
4% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Ukraine, Romania and Nigeria, against 9% across Italy. 29 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the United States and France. There are 238 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 19% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Benevento province ranks 76th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
There is an emergency room in the comune. It has a children's emergency room too. There is a major emergency department in the comune. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 209 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is École Francaise de Naples Alexandre-Dumas, 57 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Working from here
Poste Italiane has finished a coworking room in the comune, on its register of 30 September 2026. Check that it is open on Poste's booking site before you count on it.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Campania spends about €1,800 a month, €650 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €328 a year for water, on the Campania average. In Benevento, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.18, a meal in a pizzeria €9.71 and a man's haircut €18.35.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone C, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 15 to March 31, up to 10 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 2% in a high or medium one. Under 1% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
ARCO DI TRAIANO
Roman triumphal arch of 114-117, one of the best-preserved in the empire, marking the start of the Via Traiana to Brindisi.
UNESCO LOMBARD
Santa Sofia church, founded around 760 by Duke Arechis II, inscribed in 2011 as part of the Longobards in Italy serial site.
STREGA LIQUEUR
Yellow herbal liqueur distilled in Benevento since 1860 by the Alberti family, gave its name to Italy's leading literary prize founded in 1947.
AGLIANICO DEL TABURNO
The commune lies inside the Aglianico del Taburno DOCG production zone.
Common questions
- What is Benevento known for?
- Sannio capital at the Calore-Sabato confluence, with a 114 AD Trajan arch and a Lombard rotunda on the UNESCO list.
- Where is Benevento?
- Benevento is a comune in the province of Benevento, in Campania, at 130 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Benevento?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Naples (NAP), about 1 h 25 min by car.
- Can you get to Benevento without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Salerno to Benevento?
- About 1 h 24 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Benevento?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 34 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Benevento?
- Caserta, Nola and Lecce.
- How many people live in Benevento?
- 55,712 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Benevento a good place to live?
- Benevento is a city of 55,712 people, the kind of place Part 3 of our Where to Move in Italy series is about. There is a national health service hospital in the comune. Full fibre reaches 93% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 130 m
- Population: 55,712
- Surface area: 130.84 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Benevento appears in
- The 6 best wine towns you can reach by train in CampaniaCampaniawineby train6 towns · smallest 756 residents
- The 7 best hill towns that eat well in CampaniaCampaniahill towneats well7 towns · smallest 5,083 residents
- The best towns known for their meat within two hours of NaplesNear Napleswithin 2 hoursmeat zone7 towns · smallest 619 residents · closest 53 min away
- The best wine towns that eat well in CampaniaCampaniawineeats well7 towns · smallest 683 residents
- The best wine towns within 90 minutes of NaplesNear Napleswithin 90 minwine zone7 towns · smallest 756 residents · closest 53 min away
- The 8 best wine towns within 90 minutes of SalernoNear Salernowinewithin 90 min8 towns · smallest 683 residents · closest 22 min away
Similar
Towns like Benevento
What all six share with Benevento: inland, away from the coast · over 10,000 people · near sea level · have a railway station in the comune
The letter
Benevento is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Benevento comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 239 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.