Once the most turbulent phase that led to the division of the principality of Benevento ended, the Saracens of Africa had long ago started the conquest of Sicily, devastated St. Peter in Rome - resulting in the Frankish intervention of Ludwig II - and instituted the lasting emirate of Bari, from which other occasional raids for the whole southern Italian territory will depart. The city of Salerno, with the exception of the siege of 871, must have suffered less than other centers and areas of the continental South the devastating action of the Arabs, evidently by virtue of common interests of an economic nature. In addition to the aforementioned episode of the Saracen merchant Arrane, the Chronicon Salernitanum testifies at least one of the frequent "diplomatic visits" to the city by important Arab exponents, which took place in non-warlike times in the 9th century, suggesting regular political relations but also, in all probability , commercial: the attentive welcome for these foreign visitors had to be such as to reserve them the accommodation of the bishop himself. In fact, it seems that in the 9th century the maritime routes were already consolidated which usually linked the ports of Ifrîqiya (present-day Tunisia), Sicily and the ports of Gaeta, Naples, Amalfi and Salerno, in a vast maritime area where they did not affect Venetian interests, directed rather towards the eastern Mediterranean: in practice what was defined as an "impious alliance" by a pope, John VIII, who lavished all his energies in an anti-Saracen policy aimed at disrupting those intrigues that linked Christians and infidels "pro turpis lucri commodo". The frequency of commercial exchanges between the Sicilians and the Lombards of upper Calabria, i.e. of the territory controlled by the principality of Salerno after the division of 849, is also attested by the pen of the Anonymous Salerno, which refers precisely to the years 40 of the 9th century. From the Salerno markets it is presumed that the Arabs drew wine in the first place, whose production, as already mentioned, has remained high over the centuries, far exceeding the local needs, while it was almost lacking in Sicily and in many other lands of Muslim domination. In theory, the Koran forbade its consumption, so this drink was highly forbidden, to the point that some particularly fervent caliphs, such as the alyHakan of Cordoba or the Fatimita alyH kim, even threatened to have the vines uprooted. In practice, however, it was more tolerant, so the wine continued to be drunk and therefore imported from southern Italy. While we have no certain information on Salerno's export of wine to Arab countries, the probability of a commercialization of the other surplus crop, wheat, would be reflected in the praises that the Arab geographer Idrisi, in the 12th century, felt he had to address to the flourishing Salerno markets and the local wheat production in particular.