Overview
Once you arrive in Bomba, in the province of Chieti, you are sure to wonder about the origin of such a peculiar name. According to some sources it may be a transcription error, which occurred in 1058, when a piece of the territory, Vocabolo in "Burba" sold to the bishop of Chieti may have been spelled "Bumba". According to others it may instead derive from a Greek root, "Bomos," meaning high ground. There are even those who go so far as to speculate a Hebrew "Bohm," flock of sheep.
The fact is that more than a thousand years later, the village you see shining on the slopes of Mount Pallano continues to arouse sympathy for its explosive name and for the lake that characterizes it. The lake was created by damming the Sangro River with an earthen dam and it was the first to be built with this technique in Europe (1962). It looks like a blue eye in the surrounding greenery, stretching for 7 kilometres with a variable depth from a minimum level at the tributary entrance near Villa Santa Maria to a maximum of 57 and a half metres.
On its shores, the fisherman can go wild in sport fishing for chub, carp, perch, tench, eel, trout, and in the most fun water disciplines, such as canoeing, windsurfing, or water skiing.
Even for those of you who do not know how to ride the waves, there are other ways to cross the body of water safely, for example, by renting a paddleboat to enjoy the natural scenery around the lake pleasantly.
Enter the centre and get lost among the gateways and tiny streets with stone-paved steps, which testify to its medieval era. An eye also to the church of S. Maria del Popolo, in the highest part of the town, which dates to the 14th century but is in the Baroque forms of the mid-18th century, when it was rebuilt and enriched with stucco and artwork.
Nearby stands 18th-century Palazzo Spaventa, the birthplace of the Spaventa brothers, Bertrando, a philosopher, and Silvio, a Risorgimento patriot and politician.
Also visit the Ethnographic Museum with its tool shed, cellar, loom room, bedroom, kitchen and corners of crafts, schooling and games, as a reminder of a time gone by, which can be told to you by reservation by the very people who used these objects.
A good trek of about an hour, but well worth it, you can make it on the southern slope of Bomba, via a mule track and trail that take you to the summit of Mount Pallanum, about 1,000 metres high. Here stand the ruins of Pallanum with its majestic megalithic walls, divided between the municipalities of Bomba and Tornareccio.
The archaeological site is what remains of the ancient centre of the Frentani, mended in an important Oscan inscription and whose findings are preserved at the National Archaeological Museum in Chieti which we invite you to visit.
All that remains is for you to explore the traditional dishes, such as rintrocilo (the name for the rolling pin with deep grooves, used immediately after rolling out the pasta sheet), ravioli with ricotta and saffron, barbecued lamb, potatoes under the coppo, and pappardelle with duck sauce, and exclaim "this place is a bomb”.
