Domenico Arcaroli born in Vico del Gargano in 1731 and graduated in law at the University of Naples and only later was consecrated sac

erdote and Vicar General in Policastro and Pro Vicario General in Manfredonia and in Andria.

at about 44 years, in 1775 he was appointed Bishop d

to Pius VI and from 1776 to 1792 he became Bishop of Lavello, in the province of Potenza. It was only in 1792 that Domenico Arcaroli was entrusted with the episcopal seat of the city of Vieste which he held until 1817, the year of his official resignation.

His apostolate, in the diocese of Vieste, took place in a very difficult and troubled period of Italian history and the then Kingdom of Naples.

At the behest of the Bourbon government, returned to power and admirer of the prelate, he was awarded the title of Knight of the Royal Order of the Two Sicilies.

After his resignation to Pope Pius VII due to the reached age limits, but in reality determined by the many controversies that arose around his person and his work, he received from the Holy See, which actually recognized the merits of his high dicastery , the honorary title of Titular Archbishop of Bostra (Syria).

Domenico Arcaroli was the last Bishop of the city of Vieste because, dopol and his resignation, for economic reasons the archiepiscopal see was closed and merged with that of Manfredonia.

He spent the rest of his life in Vico del Gargano, his native village, continuing to write and study in his country house in the district of S. Biagio, where he died in 1826.

In the city of Vico del Gargano Arcaroli was a great promoter of the Academy of Excited VIcensi ‘on the heels of the various homonymous academies that arose, at that time, in various Italian cities with the aim of stimulating and encouraging local enlightened youth, the love for the sciences and culture.

His remains are remarried in the Chapel of the Sacrament of the Purgatory Church of Vico del Gargano which, it seems, was also the seat of the Academy.