Located in the south-eastern suburb of Salerno, the municipality is formed by the towns of Pontecagnano (main center and municipal seat), Faiano (a little hilltown, secondary seat) and by the villages of Baroncino, Corvinia, Magazzeno, Pagliarone, Picciola and Sant'Antonio a Picenzia.

It borders with Battipaglia, Bellizzi, Giffoni Valle Piana, Montecorvino Pugliano and Salerno.

The village of Faiano, the co-official administrative seat, is located few kilometers of Pontecagnano on the hills on the road to Montecorvino Pugliano, next to the Monti Picentini.

The area of Pontecagnano was settled as early as the Copper Age (3500-2300 BC), as testified by the archaeological excavations of two sanctuaries and two necropolises.

Here, in 268 BC, the Romans built a new town, Picentia, to house a nucleus of deported Piceni.