Bovino (english)

SUB-APENNINES OF  DAUNIA: 

  Villages and views: 

BOVINO

 

The land of sub-Apennines of Daunia is a small jewel of  plains and hills that chase and play from the yellow of the corn and the green of forests. Among them stand out unexpectedly villages full of charm and culture, with their houses from  the colour of the stone and the ancient hilltop castles, churches and narrow streets to walk and find out.

Among them stands Bovino, located between Apulia and Campania, which has the designation of "most beautiful village in Italy."

ITS HISTORY

Its name probably derives from the Oscan language (spoken by the ancient peoples of the Daunia), since it was founded by Daunians, and probably meant "ox".

In 323 BC participated in the Samnite wars against Rome, but the Romans destroyed it and rebuilt it, giving it the name "Vibinum". Hannibal also stayed here before the Battle of Cannae.

Various were the rulers who succeeded, from  the Lombards to Byzantines (who took it under the Duchy of Benevento), from the Swabians to Angevins. During the period of Frederick II Bovino had a flourishing period of peace.

In the twelfth century, a number of estates were annexed to it , so it became an important feud under various noble families of feudal lords.

Among the different personalities that followed, we remember especially Don Giovanni by Guevara, a Spanish nobleman, who became Duke of Bovino by concession of King Philip of Spain in 1575. He was responsible for the enlargement of of the Castle, which became the Palazzo Ducale.

In the area of Bovino, since the second half of the 800, developed the phenomenon of brigandage: the travelers crossing the Apennines were often attacked and plundered by brigands.

AROUND THE VILLAGE

Destroyed and rebuilt several times after the various dominations and the earthquakes of 1456 and 1627, the village  shows itself signs of different passages, lost among the houses of white stone, the stone streets and paths of the old town with its steep stairways , the portals of churches and noble palaces.

 

THE CATHEDRAL

 

 

Erected in the tenth century in Byzantine style, the cathedral was changed in the next century according to the canons of the Romanesque style, while retaining its internal elements of the earlier style.

The facade of the 1231 reveals a primitive gothic style that was approaching the Apulian Romanesque, and has simple lines and floral and anthropomorphic motifs.

Various adjustments (the reconstruction of the fourteenth century, further renovation in 1535, and in other series for the completion of the furniture), however, still allow us to be able to see inside the century wooden choir of the apse , the tomb of Bishop Giustiniani (1608), and an important painting, depicting the Martyr of St. Sebastian. The latter is attributed to Mattia Preti, a pupil of Caravaggio.

 

 

 

 

 THE CASTLE (Ducal Palace)

At the top of one of its hills, the castle or Ducal Palace dominates the village .

It was commissioned by Count Drogo in 1045 and was extended later by Frederick of Swabia, but, as already mentioned, it was the Duke Don Giovanni by Guevara to make it become  Palazzo Ducale with further expansions in the seventeenth century. It was also inhabited by his descendants until after 1961.
 

From the norman period  remains the round tower dating from the eleventh century.

In its halls have stayed even celebrities such as Torquato Tasso, Gian Battista Marino, Maria Theresa of Austria and Pope Benedict XIII.

 

 More ...:

• BISHOP'S PALACE: it's of the 700 , there is the Library, with about 10,000 volumes

• CHURCH OF SAN PIETRO: The oldest of Bovino, Romanesque outside and inside merge baroque shares (the nave) and the Romanesque Byzantine (the presbytery).

• SANCTUARY OF OUR LADY OF VALLEVERDE  :  look at details on link.