SALERNO, an archiepiscopal city in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, capital of the province of Principato Citra, is finely situated on the seacoast, at the head of the Gulf of Salerno, and surrounded by a beautiful tract of country at the southern foot of the chain of the Apennines, in 40' 44' N. lat., 14' 46' E. long., 30 miles S.E. from Naples, and has about 12,000 Inhabitants. The city is old and irregu larly built, with narrow and dirty streets, but contains a few good buildings, such as the cathedral and the governor's palace. The Marina, or quay, which was constructed by the French, is a mile in length, and forms • fine promenade. The harbour, which was com menced by John of I'rocida for Manfred in 1260, awl enlarged and completed under Robert the Wise, Is now almost useless in consequence of the accumulation of sand : only small craft can enter it. The ruing of the old Greek or Lombard citadel, which was taken by Robert Guiscard after a siege of eight months, crowns a lofty hill above the city. Salerno has a lyceum which grant. academical degrees, a court of justice for the province, a theatre and many churches and convents. The cathedral, the most structure in Salerno, rebuilt fly Robert Gniaeard In 1084 on the site of a former cathedral destroyed by the Saracens, is dedicated to St. Matthew. It is adorned with columns of porphyry and verde-antlque, mosaic:, bas-reliefs, and other ancient works of art, brought by Da founder from the temple of Ptestnm. Round the inclosure of the quadrangle are fourteen ancient sarcophagi. The bronze doors were erected in 1099. The interior, which is modernised, contains many of the works of art just alluded to, and also many pieces of excellent sculpture, besides two pulpits and an archiepiscopal throne of rich mosaic work. But it is more celebrated for the tombs which it contains than for its works of art.
Among these are the tombs of several descendants of the Norman dukes of Apulia, and the monument of Pope Gregory VII., who died in Salerno the guest of Robert Guiscard in 1085 : this monument was restored in 157S. The crypt beneath the cathedral is celebrated for
containing the body of St. Matthew, which is said to have been brought here from the east in 930. It also contain, the tomb of Margaret of Anjou • and three ancient sarcophagi, which inclose the remains of archbishops, and are adorned with bas-reliefs. An annual fair for native and foreign goods and for cattle is held at Salerno in the mouth of September, and is resorted to by the merchants from Naples, and by vast numbers of the peasantry.
Salerno (ancient Salernum) seems to have been founded by the Phcenicians. It early came into the hands of the Greeks. Under the Romans it was an important city, and was much frequented for the beauty of its environs during the empire, when it became a Roman colony. The Gotha took it in the 6th century; soon after the Lom bards made themselves masters of the city, which became the residence of the dukes of Benevento. It was taken from the Lombards by tho Saracens A.D. 905. In a.n. 920 the Greek emperor dispossessed the Saracens, but the city seems to have been recovered by the Lombard princes, from the last of whom (Oisulph) the city was wrested by Robert Guiscard in the 11th century. From this time it became the chief seat of the Norman power south of the Apennines. Roger II., duke of Apulia, was elected king of Naples and Sicily by an assembly of barons held in Salerno A.D. 1130. In 1193 the city was sacked and destroyed by the emperor Henry VL The town had recovered in the following century. Ever since the foundation of the monarchy it has been annexed to the crown of Naples, and it confers the title of prince upon the heir-apparent to the throne of the Two Sicilies. The city of Salerno was famous from very early times for its university and school of medicine, which was protected and flourished most under the Norman princes. Tho university, probably the most ancient in Europe, existed till 1817, when it was replaced by the lyceum.