Langobardia Minor

Langobardia Minor was the name that, in the Early Middle Ages, was given to the Lombard domains in central and southern Italy, corresponding to the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento.

After reaching Italy via Friuli in 568, the Lombards conquered a large portion of territory south of the Alps from the Byzantines.

These lands, which did not constitute, at least initially, a uniform and contiguous domain, were grouped into two main areas: Langobardia Major, from the Alps to today's Tuscany, and Langobardia Minor, which included the domains south of the Byzantine territories (which, in the late 6th century, stretched from Rome to Ravenna through modern-day Umbria and Marche).

They were formed immediately after Lombard penetration, in the 570s, and the first dukes were Faroald in Spoleto and Zotto in Benevento.

Consequently, the entire Adriatic coast between the Byzantine strongholds of Ancona in the north and Otranto in the south became subjected to the two duchies.