2.000 died at Ariano in the territory of Avellino, and the town was in ruins; Lacedonia was reduced to dust and abandoned completely.

Trouble began with a major earthquake, centered on the Vallo di Diano in the Basilicata, on 24 July.

On the last day of July Avellino was the victim of an extraordinary windstorm with clouds of dust so thick that the sky was obscured, which was followed by a rain of pebbles and lightning flashes, the result of an aftershock of the quake of the 24th.

[7] In May 1698, when Bishop Scannagatta attended the provincial synod of Benevento, he signed his name Franciscus Episcopus Abellinensis, Frequintinensis, Aquae-putridae seu Mirabellae, et Quintodecimi,[8] giving clear evidence of the incorporation of two other ancient dioceses besides Frigento into the diocese of Avellino.

Avellino and Frigento were both vacant from 1782 to 1792, due to disputes between the Papacy and the Kingdom of Naples;[9] and each diocese had its own Vicar General.

[10] The territory was captured by French forces in 1799, and Napoleon had his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, named Prince of Benevento.

A concordat (treaty) was signed on 16 February 1818,[11] and in a separate document, dated 7 March 1818, Pius VII granted Ferdinand the right to nominate all bishops in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

[13] In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, all of the cathedrals, including those of Avellino and of Frigento, were dedicated to the Bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven.