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Founded by the Lombards, this castle became very important under the Normans, when it was the head of a powerful county; there did King Roger II stay and there he held the Assizes of Ariano and coined the ducat. Later the castle was remodeled by the Angevins and the Aragonese. All around the castle there is a wide and panoramic public park.
The Norman castle of Ariano Irpino stands on the top of the hill of the same name, in the highest and most panoramic part of the town, at an altitude of 811 m. Built in a strategic and not easily accessible point, in a dominant position with respect to the Ariano saddle, the castle towers over the valleys of Ufita, Miscano, and Cervaro.
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It is a majestic building that in 18th century was converted into a high-school complex. Today it houses the museum of Norman civilization.
Home of the European Centre for Norman Studies, and the Archaeological, Civic & Ceramics Museum. The town has a long, ancient history and is still a center of ceramics manufacturing.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
The Romanesque cathedral preserves a High-Medieval baptismal font, various artistic works and a silver museum, while nearby are the bishop's palace, many other churches, the diocesan museum and the museum dedicated to Giuseppina Arcucci, founder of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit's nuns.
On a cliff overlooking the Irpinian valleys, it used to be a hospital. Thereabouts were many ancient majolica furnaces, and nowadays the building houses a permanent exhibition of majolica art.