The first trolleybus line in Avellino opened for service on 16 September 1947, a 9-kilometre-long (5.6 mi) (round trip) route connecting the city centre with the railway station and the directly adjacent town of Atripalda.

The trolleybus system closed on 1 November 1973,[1][8] initially caused by a major breakdown of the substation but made permanent when, in June 1974, the Commissione Amministratrice del Consorzio Trasporti Irpini (Administrative Commission of the Irpini Transport Consortium, established in May 1973) gave permission for the permanent replacement of trolleybuses by motorbuses.

[14] However, construction work on the new system encountered delays and was suspended for some lengthy periods, including from 2011[15] to spring 2013[16] and progress was also only limited during 2015.

In November, national transport officials advised the city and regional governments that they would be required to return €20 million of European Union funding if the trolleybus system did not open by July 2022.

[22] Longstanding plans to create new bus-only lanes along the route (through removal of parking) only began to be implemented in June 2022, and vehicle testing finally resumed in July 2022.

At the end of November, an agreement was signed transferring the fleet of trolleybuses, which are owned by the City of Avellino, to operator AIR Campania on a free-loan basis, and the final pre-opening operation – simulated service (without passengers) – for six days was scheduled to begin on 5 December 2022, with opening of the new system to the public predicted for 12 December.

The newspaper Il Mattino reported on 12 December that no new opening date had been set, and that the introduction of passenger service now might not occur before Christmas.

A consultant was hired to undertake additional studies of the extension project,[7] and in the meantime trolleybus service is expected to remain suspended until at least 2026.

[32] The service that operated briefly in 2023 was along a route that connected the railway station with Via Fraternita della Misericordia, in the western part of the town.

[16] Around 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) of the eastbound route is not equipped with overhead wiring, and the trolleybuses covered that section using their diesel engines.

[16] The fleet of the current system comprises eleven two-axle, 12-metre (40 ft) vehicles, with auxiliary diesel engines[10] enabling them to operate away from the overhead wires to a limited extent: Media related to Trolleybus transport in Avellino at Wikimedia Commons