Sant'Agapito, a municipality defined as the «gateway to the Matese» for its position on the north-western foothills of the massif, takes its name from its patron, the Christian martyr Agapitus, to whom the church was dedicated around which the original urban nucleus developed: from «Sanctum Agapitum», the town's name changed to «Santa Capiata» in 1516.
The territory was part of the county of Isernia in Lombard times and the county of Molise in Norman times; in the 12th century it became the fief of a family that took its name. The town today preserves the church of San Nicola di Bari, the municipality's mother church, in the historic centre, with a Romanesque structure built over the remains of an ancient pagan temple: its two facades, one on Via Carbonari and the other on Via Manzoni, allow its entrance to be seen from both of the town's main streets, and inside numerous statues of saints can be admired. Sant'Agapito today also comprises the hamlets of Colannoni, Coriemano, Pietradonata, Scalo Ferroviario and Temennotte.
