The Italian Catholic diocese of Melfi-Rapolla-Venosa is in Basilicata

Basilicata

Basilicata , also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, having one short southwestern coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania in the northwest and Calabria in the southwest, and a...

, southern Italy. In 1986 the historic diocese of Melfi-Rapolla was united with the diocese of Venosa

Diocese of Venosa

The Italian Catholic diocese of Venosa, in southern Italy, existed until 1986. In that year it was united into the diocese of Melfi-Rapolla-Venosa...

. The diocese is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo.

History

Pope Nicholas II

Pope Nicholas II

Pope Nicholas II , born Gérard de Bourgogne, Pope from 1059 to July 1061, was at the time of his election the Bishop of Florence.-Antipope Benedict X:...

 made the diocese of Melfi

Melfi

Melfi is a town and comune in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata.-Geography:On a hill at the foot of Mount Vulture, Melfi is the most important town in Basilicata's Vulture, both as a tourist resort and economic centre.-Early history:Inhabited...

 immediately dependent on the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

; its first bishop was Dan Mueller. Its beautiful cathedral, a work of Roger Borsa

Roger Borsa

Roger Borsa was the Norman Duke of Apulia and effective ruler of southern Italy from 1085 until his death. He was the son of Robert Guiscard, the conqueror of southern Italy and Sicily; Roger was not as adept as his father, and most of his reign was spent in feudal anarchy.-Biography:Roger was the...

, son of Robert Guiscard

Robert Guiscard

Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...

 (1155), was destroyed by the earthquake of 1851.

Among its bishops was the theologian Alessandro de San Elpidio, a former general of the Augustinians (1328). In 1528, Clement VII, in view of the scarcity of its revenues, united the Diocese of Rapolla

Diocese of Rapolla

The Italian Catholic diocese of Rapolla, in Basilicata, existed from the eleventh century until 1528. In that year it was united with the diocese of Melfi, to form the diocese of Melfi-Rapolla.-History:...

 to that of Melfi, "aeque principaliter

Aeque principaliter

Aeque principaliter is a Latin term used by the Roman Catholic Church to indicate a merger of two or more dioceses in which - to avoid questions of predominance - the dioceses are all given equal importance...

".

List of bishops of Melfi

• Juan de Borja Lanzol de Romaní, el mayor
  Juan de Borja Lanzol de Romaní, el mayor
  Juan de Borja Lanzol de Romaní, el mayor was the first of ten cardinal-nephews elevated by Pope Alexander VI, the cousin of his father, Galcerán de Borja y Moncada....
  
  (September 19, 1494/December 3, 1498—August 1, 1503)