History

The primary inhabited settlement is located in Sorgenza, dating back to the III-IV century B.C. defined by Daniele Perugini as the “Pago di ercole” and later the medieval “Casale di Santa Teodora”.
The numerous archaeological finds from Roman times found in Sorgenza in the past and in recent times such as: thin-walled ceramics, unguentari, lucerne, black-glazed ceramics, glass paste, marine oyster shells, mosaic fragments, coins, suspensure and marble from various colors, confirm the historical relations on the presence of spas, mosaics and settlement wealth, confirming also the various historical periods lived from the place up to the Medieval period.

The presence of the Abazia e Chiesa and then Casale di Santa Teodora is confirmed by the parchments of 1064, 1153, 1157. In the parchment of 1273 the Casale of Santa Teodora is mentioned, while in the pastoral visit of 1705 the bishop of Benevento orders the reduction of the Church of Santa Teodora to “street oratory”.

While the foundation of the present urban aggregate can be placed at the beginning of the X century on the basis of the parchment of the Chapter of the Metropolitan Church of Benevento in the year 1064, in which an exchange of land between a certain Alferio and l is recorded in the Castle of Ponte Landolfo Abbey of Santa Teodora. In this same mention the ruling princes Longobardi Landolfo 6th (reigned in 1038) and Pandolfo 4th (reigning from 1056) and the presence of an administrative organization with the presence of a notary, a steward and a judge makes us believe that the castle had existed for some time.

Some historians deduce that Pontelandolfo took its name from a bridge over the Lenta and from the Lombard prince Landolfo who had it built to access its own castle built there, adding that there may have been one of the Oppidi Sanniti, on the Via Numicia, on the same site. communicating the Caudini with the Pentri.

Over the centuries the town grew larger due to the settlement of the families who lived in the Casale di Santa Teodora and those coming from San Germano, Capua and Benevento, Calabria, Sicily, and mercenary troops leaving Florence, from Perugia , from Orvieto and finally those following the French troops

It suffered two sieges in 1138 and 1462, the first by Ruggiero the Norman and the second on the initiative of Ferdinand I of Aragon.

Pontelandolfo suffered numerous damages due to the various earthquakes that struck the Sannio and in particular from the earthquake of 1456 and that of 1688.

In 1466 it became a possession of the counts of Cerreto Carafa.

 

SYMBOLS

The coat of arms of the Municipality of Pontelandolfo, officially represented on the Banner, on the stamp and on every other document, consists of:

“Bridge with three arches on which stands a Longobard warrior, with a helmet on his head surrounded by a band, with the shield in his left hand, the breastplate and a long spear in his right hand.”

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