Editing Benevento (section)

===After the Italian unification===

After the [[unification of Italy]], Benevento was made provincial capital of the new [[Province of Benevento]], comprising territories formerly belonging to the dissolved [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]] ({{ill|Principato Ultra|it}}, [[Molise]], [[Terra di Lavoro]], [[Capitanata]]). In the following decades, the town saw considerable expansion and modernization; the local economy became increasingly diversified, with the traditional [[agriculture|agricultural]] sector (especially the [[cultivation of tobacco]] and [[cereals]]) being joined by growing [[confectionery]], mechanical, [[liquor]], [[lumber]] and brickmaking industries.

{{anchor|Allied air attacks}} During [[World War II]], Benevento's key position in the railway communications between [[Rome]] and [[Apulia]] resulted in the town being heavily bombed by the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] air forces in the summer of 1943. These raids caused 2,000 deaths and left 18,000 homeless out of a population of 40,000, and resulted in the destruction of half of the town.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337474421|title=Il Sannio sotto le bombe. Le incursioni aeree sulla provincia di Benevento durante la Seconda guerra mondiale|access-date=17 December 2020}}</ref><ref>[https://www.ilquaderno.it/-quot;1943-quot;-una-mostra-sui-bombardamenti-che-colpirono-benevento-123345.html "Benevento 1943", una mostra sui bombardamenti che colpirono Benevento]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2009/09/13/benevento-43.html|title=Benevento' 43 |website=Archivio – la Repubblica.it|access-date=17 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ntr24.tv/2015/08/21/a-benevento-unarea-intitolata-alle-2mila-vittime-dei-bombardamenti-americani-del-43/|title=A Benevento un'area intitolata alle 2mila vittime dei bombardamenti americani del '43 &#124; NTR24.TV – News su cronaca, politica, economia, sport, cultura nel Sannio|access-date=17 December 2020}}</ref> The railway and industrial districts were hit the hardest, but the old city centre also suffered heavily; the [[Benevento Cathedral|Cathedral]] was almost completely destroyed, and its reconstruction was only completed in the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gazzettabenevento.it/Sito2009/dettagliocomunicato.php?Id=61337|title=Gazzetta di Benevento|website=www.gazzettabenevento.it|access-date=17 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.canale58.com/articolo/sannio/12/bombe-su-benevento-gli-orrori-del-settembre-1943/31293|title=Bombe su Benevento, gli orrori del settembre 1943|website=Canale58|access-date=17 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/2283538|title=I bombardamenti su Benevento nel 1943 in cinque fotografie aeree dei &quot;National Archives&quot; di Washington in: Samnium LXXIX (2006), S. 229–243.|first=Albador Daniel|last=Siegmund|access-date=17 December 2020|via=www.academia.edu}}</ref> After being briefly occupied by the Germans in the wake of the [[Armistice of Cassibile]], Benevento was liberated by the Allies on 2 October 1943.

Four years after the war, on 2 October 1949, Benevento was hit hard by a flood of the [[Calore Irpino]].

During the 1950s Benevento was mainly ruled by [[Partito Nazionale Monarchico|Monarchist]] or [[Movimento Sociale Italiano|MSI]] mayors, and then for three decades (until the 1990s) by the [[Christian Democracy]]. [[Public sector]] grew considerably during this period, becoming a prime source of employment for many inhabitants of the province; the town also saw increasing demographic expansion, resulting in a somewhat incontrolled [[building boom]]. In recent years, several [[urban renewal]] projects have been carried out in the old city centre, and Benevento has become the seat of the [[University of Sannio]] and several [[research institutes]].