Melfi

Melfi is a medieval town of Roman origin in the Vulture territory of Potenza province, taken from the Byzantines by the Normans in the 11th century, who for a period made it their capital in southern Italy. Its position was strategic as a gateway between Campania and Apulia. In 1059, the Council of Melfi brought together Pope Nicholas II and Norman leaders, including Robert Guiscard, to formalize an alliance that helped legitimize Norman rule in southern Italy.

Melfi's Norman castle, built in the late 11th century, was later significantly expanded under the Hohenstaufen dynasty after 1194. Emperor Frederick II placed particular importance on the castle and ordered modifications to it; it was here, in 1231, that he promulgated the Constitutions of Melfi (Liber Augustalis), a comprehensive legal code for the Kingdom of Sicily that he personally helped draft. Building on the earlier Assizes of Capua, the Constitutions formed the basis of Sicilian law for roughly six centuries and are considered a landmark of European legal history — the first major codification of a European state's administrative law since Justinian I in the 6th century. The castle itself was further altered under the later House of Anjou and Crown of Aragon.

The Norman-Swabian Castle of Melfi, site of the 1059 Council of Melfi and the 1231 promulgation of Frederick II's Constitutions of Melfi, is the town's principal landmark.

Melfi sits in the Vulture area of Potenza province, near Lavello and Monte Vulture.