Sant'Arpino is a 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 Caserta

Province of Caserta

The Province of Caserta is a province in the Campania region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Caserta. The former royal palace of Caserta is located near to the city.It has an area of 2,639 km², and a total population of 879,342...

 in the Italian

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...

 region 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...

 located about 11 km northwest of Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 and about 12 km southwest of Caserta

Caserta

Caserta is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial and industrial comune and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Campanian Subapennine mountain range...

.

Sant'Arpino borders the following municipalities: Cesa

Cesa (CE)

Cesa is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 15 km north of Naples and about 14 km southwest of Caserta. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 7,748 and an area of 2.8 km²....

, Frattamaggiore

Frattamaggiore

-Geography:It is located in the Afragola hinterland. At the 2001 census the municipality had a population of 32,731 inhabitants and a land area of 5.32 km² . It is bordered by Afragola, Cardito, Crispano, Frattaminore, Grumo Nevano, and Sant'Arpino....

, Frattaminore

Frattaminore

Frattaminore is a comune in the Province of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 13 km north of Naples.Frattaminore borders the following municipalities: Crispano, Frattamaggiore, Orta di Atella, Sant'Arpino....

, Grumo Nevano

Grumo Nevano

Grumo Nevano is a comune in the Province of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 11 km north of Naples.-External links:*...

, Orta di Atella

Orta di Atella

Orta di Atella is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 15 km north of Naples and about 12 km southwest of Caserta....

, Sant'Antimo

Sant'Antimo

Sant'Antimo is a comune in the Province of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 13 km north of Naples.-External links:*...

, Succivo

Succivo

Succivo is a comune in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 15 km north of Naples and about 13 km southwest of Caserta...

.

Etymology

Sant'Arpino is the vulgarized version of Sant'Elpidio, Bishop and patron of the town.

History

When the city of Atella

Atella

Atella was an ancient city of Campania, halfway between Naples and Capua; its ruins lie between the towns of Orta di Atella and Sant'Arpino. Atella is not mentioned until the Second Punic War, when, although an independent city striking its own coinage, it was allied with Capua and the other...

 starts to disappear around the beginning of the 11th century, there are news of a small village built around a church outside the city walls with the name of Village of S. Elpidio (popularized later in S. Arpino) in a bill of sale dated 820 DC. The two names of S. Elpidio and Atella officially coexist until, founded Aversa

Aversa

Aversa is a town and comune in the Province of Caserta in Campania southern Italy, about 15 kilometres north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the agro aversano, producing wine and cheese...

, all that remained of Atella were transferred in the nearby city and the little Norman Village of Sant'Elpidio becomes one of its hamlets. In 1592 the village became a ducal estate of the Marquis of Grottole Alonzo Sanches de Luna of Aragon and had, for the first time in its history, the official name of Sant'Arpino. Elevated to a municipality with Joachim Murat it had been suppressed during the Fascist era in 1928 by Royal Decree Law 15/4/28 n.948 to form the town of Atella of Naples. In 1946 with the Decree Law 29/3/46 is reconstituted in the fledgling Italian Republic.