BOVINO, DIOCESE OF. - A small town in the province of Foggia, situated on the spur between the Cervaro valley and the Biletra valley. The long and narrow gorge known as the Vallo di Bovino connects the Benevento basin with Apulia. The territory of the present-day diocese of Bovino was once part of the ancient diocese of Aeca, a city probably destroyed during the 7th century. By the mid-10th century, Bovino, along with other places in Apulia, was included within the territory of Benevento. Besieged by Otto I in 969 and 970, it remained under Byzantine control, and it was at this time that it was established as a diocese, subject to the metropolitan see of Benevento. It passed under the Normans of Apulia in 1047. No certain bishops are known prior to 971; the first is a Giovanni mentioned in a document dating to that period. Among the early bishops was also a Ugo, whose name appears on two tablets preserved on the site. Cardinals Benedetto Accolti and Gabriele Marini served as bishops of Bovino. The seminary was established in 1601 by Bishop Paolo Tolosa.
Within the diocese there still exists a municipality, Castelluccio de' Sauri, whose inhabitants speak Greek and follow the Byzantine rite; they are Epirotes who took refuge there in the 15th century.
The cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin and to St. Mark, is of Byzantine origin. Begun in 905, it was rebuilt in the 12th–13th centuries. It features three fine ogival portals and a notable wooden choir. It was damaged by the earthquake of 1930. In Bovino was the tomb of St. Mark, bishop of Aeca, whose relics are said to have been transferred there after the destruction of that city.
The diocese of Bovino is a suffragan of Benevento; it has 12 parishes, some in the province of Foggia and others in that of Avellino, 23 diocesan priests and 8 religious priests, and 35,000 inhabitants, all Catholic (1948).