Candida is a small town and comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

(municipality) in the province of Avellino

Province of Avellino

The Province of Avellino is a province in the Campania region of Italy. The area is typified by many small towns and villages scattered across the province; in fact only two towns have a population over 20,000; its capital city Avellino and Ariano Irpino....

 within the Campania

Campania

Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

 region of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It sits on top of a hill, at an altitude of 579 metres and has around 1100 inhabitants. It is located at 10 km from Avellino

Avellino

Avellino 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 north-east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento.-History:Before the Roman conquest, the...

.

The economy is mostly relying on agriculture.

History

The first human settlements in the territory date back to the Roman times. Many ruins have been found in the localities of Cesine, Vigna, Selvetelle, Scandravoli, Giardino, Ponticelli, Gaudi, Toppa S. Andrea. The name of the town derives from the Latin "locus candidus" which means clear, shining place.

The first historical mention of the town appeared in 1045 when Candida was included, under the Lombard domination

Duchy of Benevento

The Duchy and later Principality of Benevento was the southernmost Lombard duchy in medieval Italy, centred on Benevento, a city central in the Mezzogiorno. Owing to the Ducatus Romanus of the popes, which cut it off from the rest of Lombard Italy, Benevento was from the first practically...

, in the Avellino county. From that time many feudal lords followed one another. The Filangieri

Filangieri

The Filangieri were an Italo-Norman noble family with origins near Nocera in the Kingdom of Sicily, but they rose to prominence at Naples...

 family owned the fiefdom from 1187 with Alduino de Candida

Aldoino Filangieri di Candida

Aldoino Filangieri di Candida was a nobleman in the Kingdom of Naples. He was the son of Giordano of the Filangieri and an unnamed woman, the sister of Aldoino di Cicala, from whom he took his name and his fief. He inherited his uncle's fief of Candida on his father's death...

, until 1420 when Caterina Filangieri de Candida gave the fiefdom of Candida as a dowry to Sergianni Caracciolo. Then the fiefdom passed to the De Cardona, Magnacervo, Grimaldi, Saulli families back to the Caracciolos that kept it until the abolition of the feudal system.

Main sights

• Church of SS. Trinità (monastery of Sant'Agostino), originally in Gothic style. It was rebuilt in Renaissance style after 1550.
• Monastery and church of Montevergine, built in the 15th century.
• Collegiata Church (1540).
• Remains of the Lombard castle