A large crowd packed Salem Street on Tuesday as Bova's Bakery marked 100 years of pulling bread, pastries and cannoli out of its ovens in the heart of the North End. The family-run shop handed out free cannoli to mark the occasion, drawing not just longtime regulars but Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, who both showed up for the centennial celebration.
Owner Antonio Bova, whose family has run the shop since it opened in 1926, said the loyalty of North End customers has kept the business going for a century. As reported by WBZ NewsRadio, Bova said many of his customers visit the bakery three to five times a week for pastries, a rhythm of daily life that has helped sustain a business now celebrating 100 years of producing award-winning Italian pastries and treats. The bakery's founder, an Italian immigrant born in Reggio Calabria in 1890, opened A. Bova & Sons Bakery in 1926 at 79 Prince Street, initially selling bread door-to-door from a basket before the business relocated to its current storefront at 134 Salem Street, according to Bova's Bakery.
From Door-to-Door Bread to a 24-Hour North End Fixture
Bova's is one of the few Boston food and pastry shops open 24 hours a day, a status Antonio Bova says the shop settled into about 30 years ago. That round-the-clock model, per the same WBZ report, makes Bova's a late-night and early-morning stop for revelers threading through the North End after the bars close. The bakery is frequently compared to neighboring North End staples Mike's Pastry, which opened in 1946, and Modern Pastry, which opened in 1930 — but while tourist lines stack up on Hanover Street for those competitors, Bova's on Salem Street serves a steadier mix of local residents, early-shift workers and late-night crowds, per The Points Guy.
The bakery's menu has shifted along with its hours. Though Bova's began strictly as a bread bakery and briefly operated as a diner with booth seating in its early decades, it expanded in the 1980s and 1990s to include savory prepared Italian foods like Sicilian pizza, calzones and arancini, according to Wikipedia's entry on the shop. Antonio Bova has said that savory push was partly a response to changing appetites, noting that people eat less bread than they did in the past — a shift that also coincided with the bakery developing a menu aimed at younger North End customers coming in at night.
A Neighborhood Reshaped, One Pastry at a Time
The centennial lands amid a dramatically different North End than the one Bova's founder knew. During the bakery's founding decade between 1920 and 1930, Italian immigrants and their descendants made up roughly 90 percent of the neighborhood's population, whereas people of Italian descent comprise under 30 percent of North End residents today, according to BU Today. Even so, the 0.36-square-mile neighborhood still houses over 100 Italian restaurants, cafes and bakeries, the outlet notes — a density that helps explain the steady foot traffic Bova's has relied on for generations.
City Hall has taken notice of that kind of longevity. Boston operates an official Legacy Business Program, established under Mayor Wu to recognize and support independent enterprises that have operated in the city for 10 or more years and contribute to neighborhood identity, according to the City of Boston. This year the city honored 30 legacy businesses selected from more than 2,000 public nominations, the announcement states, underscoring the kind of institutional anchor Bova's has become on Salem Street.
A Hollywood Cameo and What Comes Next
Bova's has had its share of unusual chapters over the past century, including a brush with Hollywood. In March 2023, the bakery closed its doors to customers for nearly a week to serve as a shooting location for Apple Original Films' heist movie The Instigators, starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck — the first time the 24/7 shop had shut down in its nearly 100-year history, as Hoodline previously reported on the Boston shoot. The bakery was compensated for the closure and had its display showcases swapped out for movie props during filming.
Looking ahead, Bova's is pairing its milestone birthday with an expansion beyond the North End's narrow streets. The bakery has launched limited-edition 100th-anniversary merchandise and plans to roll out nationwide online shipping for its Italian pastries starting September 1, according to Bova's Bakery. For a shop built on the idea that customers keep coming back three to five times a week, it marks the first real chance for former Bostonians and out-of-state fans to get a taste without making the trip to Salem Street.
