A few years ago it has become the “Village of the Fairy Tales”. Yet Rapone, a viewpoint on the valley of the Ofanto river and the sheep tracks linking the Salerno plain to the “Tavoliere” (Apulia plain) , has a long history behind. It stands at an altitude of 838 m. among softly sloping hills, where agriculture and sheep rearing are the prevailing activities. The human presence on these hills dates back to Neolitic times. Rapone was founded by the inhabitants of another town on the mountainous right side of the Ofanto river, fleeing their homes to escape the Byzantine-Gothic wars of the VI Century. The new settlement appears on maps and documents after the XI Century. Under the Norman domination, until 1169, is part of the Contea di Conza, in later years it is one of the boroughs that repaired the San Fele castle, as ordered by Frederick II. In 1271 Charles I Anjou grants the town to Hervé de Chevreuse, French, the first of a long sequence of feudal lords ending with the Sanseverinos, the Carafas and the D’Annas. In the first decades of the XIX Century, Rapone has a role in the battles of the Italian Risorgimento. In 1980 it is hit by the earthquake that caused heavy destructions in the near Irpinia. Noteworthy is the San Nicola di Bari parish church(XVI Century), restored after the earthquake, preserving valuable artistic works. The oldest church in town is “Santa Maria dei Santi” , built in 1131 by San Guglielmo da Vercelli. A visit deserve also the church of “Santa Maria ad Nives” with a portal built in 1815 and the chapels of “Calvario , Sacro Cuore, San Michele Arcangelo and San Vito Martire. In the last years, the project “Rapone, Paese delle Fiabe” (Rapone, the Village of the Fairy Tales) has enriched the borough with special events and modern sculptures.