Salerno

(anc. Salernum ). A town of Naples, capital of the province of Principato Citra, 30 miles southeast from Naples. It was captured during the Social war by the Samnite general Papius. After the fall of the Western empire Salerno rose to its height. It pa ed first into the hands of the Goths, then into those of the Lombards, from whom it was taken by the Saracens in 905; but fifteen years after, it was recovered by the Greek emperor, and subsequently reverted to the Lombards. In 1076 Salerno was taken, after a siege of eight months, by Robert Guiscard; and thenceforward became the capital of the Norman po e ions south of the A pennines. In 1193 the town was destroyed by the emperor Henry VI.