Lapio

Lapio is one of the historic cru villages of Fiano di Avellino DOCG — the Campanian white wine made from the Fiano grape that the Romans called 'Apianum' (because the grape was so sweet that bees, api, were attracted to it), grown across the Irpinia hills east of Avellino since at least the 1st c AD and reborn as a serious modern DOCG only since the 1990s thanks to the producers of Lapio + Montefredane + Summonte + the neighbouring villages. The Lapio comune is 1,428 residents at 590m altitude on a hilltop with the medieval Castello Filangieri (11th-c Norman, 16th-c Filangieri family rebuild) anchoring the high point, narrow stone-paved vicoli climbing from the central piazza to the castle, the Chiesa Madre di San Pietro Apostolo (15th-c), and the Convento dei Cappuccini. The town holds an unusually rich four-signal combination of Città quality marks — Città del Vino (the Fiano + the local Aglianico), Città dell'Olio (Irpinia DOP olive oil from the surrounding terraces), Città del Miele (the Irpinia chestnut + multifloral honey from the Apennine forests above town), and Città della Nocciola (Avellino is the second-largest hazelnut-producing province in Italy after Cuneo; the local Tonda Romana hazelnut variety is the foundation of regional confectionery). The Festa del Fiano in late September is the year's main event with cellar tours + tastings across the comune. Beyond Lapio: Avellino 24 km west (provincial capital), Mirabella Eclano (with the famous Roman Forum + Carro di San Pellegrino procession) 15 km north, the Parco Naturale Regionale del Partenio + Sannio mountains immediately east. The food is Irpinia-Campanian: pasta al ragù di castrato, brodo di tagliolini con scarola, the local Caciocavallo Podolico (matured 12+ months on Apennine pastures), torrone tenero (made with Tonda Romana hazelnuts + honey), and obviously the Fiano with everything. Like all Irpinia inland villages, depopulation is real — 2,400 residents in 1951, 1,428 today.