MALVITO. – An ancient diocese and a very old city of northern Calabria, raised to the status of a bishopric during the rule of the Lombard dukes. The earliest document to mention it is the bull of John XV of 12 July 989, which places it among the suffragans of Salerno. It is likewise recorded as such by John XV himself in 994; by Benedict VIII in the bulls of 25 April 1016 and 27 December 1019; by Stephen IX in the bull of 24 March 1058; by Paschal II in the bull of 1102 to the archbishop of Salerno, etc. Yet in the Liber Censuum it appears immediately subject to the Holy See.
That M. may have succeeded Tempas, Cirella, or Blanda Julia, ancient dioceses of the Tyrrhenian coast, cannot be disproved; but it certainly was not replaced by S. Marco, as Fabre maintains, since that diocese was founded by Robert Guiscard around 1070, whereas M. persisted until the mid-14th century, as is shown by the Liber Censuum and local history, which attributes its suppression to the killing of its bishop Abbondanzio in 1350. It is true, however, that upon its suppression its territory was incorporated into that of the very nearby S. Marco.