The town takes its name from the
Roman goddess
Bellona, who had a temple devoted to her in the area. Recent excavations also have shown the likely presence of another temple of
Mercury. When the
Saracens destroyed the ancient
Capua in 841, some of their inhabitants moved to the Palmobara hill (the modern Bellon's
frazione of Triflisco) founding the town of
Sicopoli. This was also destroyed by the Saracens in 856. Bellona continued to be a
frazione of Capua until the
Napoleonic Age (1806). On 7 October 1943 German soldiers shot 54 of Bellona's citizens. Italian President
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro awarded the town the Golden Medal of Military Valour to reward the town's contribution to the Resistance in
World War II. ==References==