City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 144,078), southern Italy.
Located on the Gulf of Salerno, it was founded by the Romans in 197 BC on the site of an earlier town. Part of a Lombard duchy from AD 646, it was the capital of an independent Lombard principality from 839 to с 1076. It was then conquered by the Norman Robert Guiscard and became his capital. It was later incorporated into the Kingdom of Naples . During World War II, Salerno's coast was the scene of a major battle (September 1943) between Allied landing forces and German troops. It is an active seaport in an industrial area; its landmarks include a medical school (the earliest in Europe, probably founded in the 9th century) and the cathedral (845, rebuilt 1076–85) that contains the tombs of St. Matthew and Pope Gregory VII .