Localization of people in ancient Italy

Fresco of a samnite knight upon a tomb

Fresco of a sannita warrior

bronze head of Gavio Ponzio, a sannita general at Forche Caudine

The pressure caused by the increase of the population had pushed the Sanniti to stray from the plains because they were in desperate need of good pastures for their flocks. They were pushed to the east towards Puglia and to the west towards Campania installing themselves on the banks of the middle and high Volturno, and on the northwest they neared the river basin of the Lira. This brought them dangerously close to the Lazio, where in the second half of IV Century, the Romans had conquered political predominance. The Sanniti could not be certain if the Romans had remained there as they continued to advance.

Sooner or later a clash between the two inevitably had to happen. In fact, there were three small Sanniti wars that broke out. These lasted approximately 50 years.
For the Roman it was not the usual war carried out against a subject with a weak and helpless population, but a clash between two powers that had competed equally. The Roman, installed in the Lazio, aimed at the expansion in the remainder of Italy. The Sanniti did not accept the aims of Rome to become owners of the peninsula. The hatred of the Sanniti towards Rome was born from their right for survival, for which they fought fiercely against the Roman aggressor, in order to defend their own freedom. The Sanniti were a true thorn in the side of the Roman, who had fought against them for 50 years and knew their strength.

The Roman on his part, nourished feelings of fear and respect for the Sanniti, as they recognized in them the quality that they admired above all the others. The war worsened.
The three wars fought against the Sanniti (from 343 a.C. to the 341 a.C.; from 327 a.C. to 304 a.C.; from 298 a.C. to 290 a.C.) were the most difficult and uncertain in Roman history. On more than one occasion, they were on the edge of financial ruin. In the course of the Second Sanniti War, the Romans knew without hesitation the shame of the giogo in the famous Forche Caudine. (a.C.-if you mean after Christ-it would be AD in English- before Christ would be BC)
The Romans had to resort to great resources, to generate and to exercise them in order to combat the courageous resistance of these "people of the mountains" who were determined to defend with stubbornness their own independence and cultural identity.

The final outcome of the three wars was the elimination of the Sanniti people due to the military endeavors of Rome with its complete absorption into the Roman people. But the Sanniti features are still preserved today in the genetic code of the people of the Matese.