Arvello stands in a dominant position on the homonymous plain, at 831 m a.s.l. The small town, located between the Castelliere of Mount Castellaro to the north and that of Palarne one kilometer to the south, is mentioned for the first time in a document dated 1157. It is very likely that the original nucleus of the town was more down, where today stands the small settlement of Costa d'Arvello. Costa retains an important place of worship already known in the 13th century: the Church of San Mariano, which from a chapel became a parish church in 1573, joined to that of Saint Stephen in Gallano. During the eighteenth century there was a clear distinction between the two current nucleus: the agglomeration at the highest altitude will keep the name Arvello, associated with the Church of the Madonna del Carmine, which was moved in 1950 to the place where now is the church dedicated to Santa Maria Giacobbe; the oldest part of the settlement, with its church, will instead take the name of Costa d'Arvello.
