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Lacedonia
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Country:	Italy
Region:	Campania
Province:	Avellino
Location:	Latitude: 41° 3' N Longitude: 15° 25' E
Altitude:	m ft
Area:	81 km² mi²
Population:	3,010
Population density:	37/km² /mi²
Frazioni:
Neighbouring comuni:	Aquilonia, Bisaccia, Melfi (PZ), Monteverde, Rocchetta Sant'Antonio (FG), Sant'Agata di Puglia (FG), Scampitella
Postcode:	83046
Area code:	0827
ISTAT number:	064041
Codice Catasto number:
Name given to inhabitants:	lacedoniesi
Patron saint:	S. Nicola, S. Filippo Neri (Copatrono)
Festival day:	December 6 and May 26
Website

Lacedonia is a commune of 3,010 people in the province of Avellino, Italy overlooking the Osento torrent, which forms here the Lake of Saint Peter, an artificial lake that has increased the value of the whole area.

Lacedonia was first called Akudunniad by the Osci and then Erdonea. After many destructions, it was rebuilt by the Romans, with the name of Aquilonia, and was part of the Tribe of Galeria. It was later called Al Cidonia and then Cedogna until 1800. Finally it became Lacedonia.

In 517 AD it was given to the Benedictine monks by the Emperor Justinian.

It was under the Lombards, the Counts of Conza and the Normans, then became a fiefdom of the Balvano, Orsini, Pappacoda and Doria families.

Lacedonia is famous for the "conspiracy of the barons" of the Kingdom of Naples against King Ferdinand I of Naples, which took shape in the cathedral of Lacedonia in 1484.

Lacedonia has suffered much from earthquakes, especially in 1694 and 1702. In 1930 another violent earthquake destroyed the whole town; the population lived, temporarily, in earthquake-proof houses and only in the year 2001 were they able to move to more modern houses built after the earthquake of 23 November 1980, which made thousands of victims in Savignano Irpino.

The episcopal see dates from the eleventh century. The first known bishop is Desiderius, mentioned in 1082, but he is known to have had predecessors. Among the other noteworthy bishops were Fra Guglielmo Neritono (1392); Antonio Dura (1506); Gianfrancesco Carducci (1564); the distinguished mathematician Marco Pedacca 1584); the learned and virtuous Giacomo Candido (1606); Giacomo Giordano (1651), who built the episcopal palace and planned a new cathedral; Benedetto Bartolo, who was seized by the brigands and later redeemed by the Marquess of Carpi; Morea (1684), who suppressed certain festivities of pagan origin celebrated on the vigil of Epiphany, and laid the corner-stone of the new cathedral.

Under bishop Francesco Ubaldo Romanzi (1798) the Diocese of Lacedonia was increased by union with Trevico, a neighbouring diocese subject to the Metropolitan of Benevento, and which dates at least from the tenth century, when a Bishop Benedetto is mentioned (964).

The diocese is a suffragan of Conza and Campagna, and had in the early 20th century 11 parishes with 28,000 souls, a Capuchin monastery and a house of the Daughters of St. Anne.

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This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. [1]