Cerreto Sannita

Cerreto Sannita (IPA: [ʧerˈretosanˈnita], Cerrìte in the Cerretese dialect, IPA: [tʃə'rːitə]) is an Italian comune with a population of 3,539 inhabitants located in the Province of Benevento in the Campania region.

Originally a fief of the Sanframondo family from 1151 to 1460, it passed to the Carafa family in 1483. In the 17th century, it became the seat of the bishops of the Telese diocese, which in 1986 evolved into the Diocese of Cerreto Sannita-Telese-Sant'Agata de' Goti. In 1737, the town rebelled against the Carafa counts due to the oppressive police regime imposed on the people of Cerreto and the burdensome taxes that were crippling the local woolen cloth industry. The Carafa family dispatched 120 mercenaries to suppress the uprising, resulting in widespread violence and arbitrary imprisonments. It was only through the intervention of King Charles III of Spain that legality was restored, allowing the people of Cerreto to achieve initial judicial victories, though the once-prosperous wool industry, a source of wealth for centuries, had by then fallen into irreversible decline.

The town, renowned for its centuries-old tradition of ceramics, features a meticulously planned layout, having been entirely rebuilt following the devastating earthquake of 5 June 1688, which leveled the old Cerreto. The reconstruction was designed by Giovanni Battista Manni under the directive of Count Marzio Carafa and his brother Marino.