Bovino, The Village of Eight Hundred Portals

A village of the province of Foggia, Bovino is located on the border between Puglia and Campania. Destroyed and rebuilt several times, the old town center is characterized by the harmony of its urban structure and for the way its traditional materials, colors and traditional forms have been preserved.

Even today, visitors can admire the streets made out of river stone, stone houses characterized by traditional tiled roofs, brick barrel vaults, palaces with exceptionally beautiful courtyards, and a multitude of stone portals, exactly eight hundred. The mosaics, remains of Roman walls, stairways that decorate the lanes of the village, and finds kept in the municipal museum, constitute the great wealth that the town continues to protect with extreme care.

Must-see

In the village there are seven beautiful churches.

The Cathedral – The façade is the work of the master Zano from Gaul, who impressed the primitive Gothic Style that inaugurated the Romanesque style in Puglia. Noteworthy is the seventeenth-century wooden choir area in the apse, the funerary inscriptions and monuments of the lords of Bovino.

Ducal Castle – Currently inhabited by the descendants of the Guevara family, in the past it was one of the most beautiful patrician residences in the South of Italy. Built by the Norman Count Drogone, the castle was later expanded by Frederick II, and in the 1600s it was transformed into a noble residence by the dukes of Guevara.

Church of San Marco – Consecrated in 1197, it holds the monumental tombs of various bishops who governed the ancient diocese of the village.

Church of the Rosary – Built in 1205, it is a Gothic church with a single-nave structure.

Church of San Pietro – It is a very ancient church, an interesting example of Romanesque architecture characterized by Byzantine elements set on Roman remains.

Diocesan museum – This museum is hosted in the Ducal Castle; It presents a collection that includes the treasures of the Cathedral: paintings, sculptures, golden and silver china, crucifixes and sacerdotal robes.

Must-try

Homemade pasta– It is the ever-present product of Pugliese cuisine.

Almond cookies-typical of the area

Orecchiette – An ear-shaped pasta served with a mixed-meat sauce

Fusilli with a fresh tomatoe sauce and grated ricotta – Ricotta is one of the most traditional products of southern Italy, especially in Puglia.

Lamb cooked “a cutturiello”– It is a typical Easter dish, strictly cooked in a ceramic pot.