The Catepanate (or Catapanate) of Italy (Greek: κατεπανίκιον Ἰταλίας) was a province of the Byzantine Empire, comprising mainland Italy south of a line drawn from Monte Gargano to the Gulf of Salerno. Amalfi and Naples, although north of that line, maintained allegiance to Constantinople through the catepan. The Italian region of Capitanata derives its name from the Catepanate.
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In 873, the Byzantines retook Bari from the Saracens. Along with the already-existing theme of Calabria, the region of Apulia, around Bari, formed a new theme, that of Longobardia. In ca. 965, the stratēgos (equivalent to "General" in modern English usage) of Bari was raised to the title of katepanō of Italy, usually with the rank of patrikios. The title of katepanō meant "the uppermost" in the Greek language.
Some Norman adventurers, on pilgrimage to Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano, lent their swords in 1017 to the Lombard cities of Apulia against the Byzantines. From 1016 to 1030 the Normans were pure mercenaries, serving either Byzantines or Lombards, and then Sergius IV of Naples, by installing the leader Ranulf Drengot in the fortress of Aversa in 1030, gave them their first pied-à-terre and they began an organized conquest of the land. In 1030 there arrived William and Drogo, the two eldest sons of Tancred of Hauteville, a petty noble of Coutances in Normandy. The two joined in the organized attempt to wrest Apulia from the Byzantines, who by 1040 had lost most of that province. Bari was captured by the Normans in April 1071, and the Byzantines finally ousted from southern Italy. They returned briefly to besiege Bari in 1156.
The title Catapan of Apulia and Campania was revived briefly in 1166 for Gilbert, Count of Gravina, the cousin of the queen regent Margaret of Navarre. In 1167, with his authority as catapan, Gilbert forced German troops out of the Campania and compelled Frederick Barbarossa to raise the siege of Ancona.