The remains of the ancient Melito were found in 1880. According to some theories, it could be a suburban village belonging to Aeclanum, but the prevailing theory suggests that it was the ancient village of Melae (or Melas). In Ab Urbe Condita (book XXIV, chapter X), Titus Livius wrote that Melae was destroyed in 215 BC by the troops of Claudius Marcellus and Quintus Fabius, during the Second Punic War.[4]