Sabato (river) in the context of "Calore Irpino"

Benevento (UK: /ˌbɛnəˈvɛntoʊ/ BEN-ə-VEN-toh; US: /ˌbeɪneɪˈ-/ BAY-nay-, Italian: [beneˈvɛnto] ; Beneventano: Beneviento [bənəˈvjendə]) is a city and comune (municipality) 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. As of June 30, 2025, Benevento has 55,319 inhabitants. It is also the seat of a Catholic archbishop.

Benevento occupies the site of the ancient Beneventum, originally Maleventum or even earlier Maloenton. In the imperial period, its founder was deemed to have been Diomedes after the Trojan War.

The Hirpini (Latin: Hirpini) were an ancient Samnite tribe of Southern Italy. While generally regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation. They inhabited the southern portion of Samnium, in the more extensive sense of that name, roughly the area now known as Irpinia from their name—a mountainous region bordering on Basilicata towards the south, on Apulia to the east, and on Campania towards the west. No marked natural boundary separated them from these neighboring nations, but they occupied the lofty masses and groups of the central Apennines, while the plains on each side, and the lower ranges that bounded them, belonged to their more fortunate neighbors. The mountain basin formed by the three tributaries of the Vulturnus (modern Volturno)—the Tamarus (modern Tammaro), Calor (modern Calore), and Sabatus (modern Sabato), which, with their valleys, unite near Beneventum, surrounded on all sides by lofty and rugged ranges of mountains—is the center and heart of their territory. They occupied the Daunian Mountains to the north, while its more southern portion comprised the upper valley of the Aufidus (modern Ofanto) and the lofty group of mountains where that river takes its rise.