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Bovino is located on the borderline between Apulia and Campania. Due to its position, it has played a strategic role for connections between the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas. The first human settlements in Bovino and its surrounding area date back to the Neolithic age. The town was founded by the Daunians and took part in the Samnites struggles against the Romans, by whom it was destroyed and rebuilt with the name of Vibinum, to then obtain recognition as a town and the privilege of independence and self-rule. In 663 it was destroyed again, this time by the Byzantines, during the war against the Longobards. Its defence walls and streets were rebuilt: their original, narrow and tortuous, layout is still visible in the oldest town neighbourhoods. This did not prevent the town from being razed to the ground again, first by the Saracens and then by Emperor Octon I. During the rule of Frederick II, Bovino had a tranquil and prosperous phase, then passed under Angevin rule and subsequently under a sequence of feudatories. This small centre of the Daunian sub-Apennines boasts a mention as one of the finest ancient towns of Italy (“I Borghi più belli d’Italia”) by ANCI, the Association of Italian Municipalities.