the name sant'agata de' goti of the see is derived from the (french) aristocratic family de goth, which held the fiefdom ruling from the castle, but tradition derives it from a body of goths who took refuge there after the battle of vesuvius (552); the church of the goths in rome, too, was dedicated to st. agatha. besides the saticulan inscriptions there are two christian inscriptions of the sixth century. in 866 emperor louis ii captured it from the byzantines, who had taken it from the longobard duchy of benevento.