Travel Guide Bova

Beautiful village of 200 souls, at 915 m of altitude, in the heart of the National Park of Aspromonte. An atmosphere of the past reigns in the narrow streets, the houses and the restored stone palaces. A magical place! To reach this isolated and timeless place, you have to leave the Ionian coast at Bova Marina and follow a provincial road that goes inland. The road gradually rises among the hills with a rough and uneven profile, worn by time and sun, a landscape that is reminiscent of the panoramas of mainland Greece. The analogy does not end there: Bova is also the capital of the Area Grecanica, or Bovesia, a linguistic island where the dialect Grecanico is spoken, a mixture of Greek and Calabrian. The origins of this dialect remain obscure: for some, it derives from Byzantine Greek. Others maintain, however, that it can be traced back to the Greek spoken in the colonies of Magna Grecia. Events organized by the community of Bova and a small Museo della lingua greco-calabra keep this culture alive. From the fifteenth century, Bova also hosted an important Jewish community that occupied the Giudecca district, at the foot of the ancient Norman castle. On the coast, in Bova Marina, the Parco Archeologico Archeoderi preserves the remains of a 4th century synagogue, the second oldest synagogue in Western Europe after that of Ostia. The municipality of Bova Marina, on the other hand, is of little interest.