Bra (, ) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

province of Cuneo Cuneo ( Italian), or Coni ( Piedmontese), is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and H ...

in the northwest Italian region of

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. It is situated southeast of

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

and northeast of

Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in ...

in the area known as Roero. Bra is the birthplace of the feminist philosopher Adriana Cavarero, politician Emma Bonino, and of the activist Carlo Petrini, founder of the

Slow Food Slow Food is an organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and re ...

movement and of the world's first University of Gastronomic Sciences, whose main campus is located within Bra's municipal boundaries at Pollenzo. Bra is also home to "Cheese", a biennial international festival organised by Slow Food which features the makers of artisanal cheeses from around the world. In 1997 the event attracted some 150,000 visitors. Among the structures in town is the intricately domed church of Santa Chiara by the late-Baroque architect,

Bernardo Antonio Vittone Parish Church of Grignasco Bernardo Antonio Vittone (19 August 1704 – 19 October 1770) was an Italian architect and writer. He was one of the three most important Baroque architects active in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy; the other tw ...

and the church of St. Andrew, the facade of which was designed by the architect

Gian Lorenzo Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...

, although not completed until two centuries later. The town is famous for its gastronomy and the production of

Bra sausage Bra sausage (in Piedmontese ''sautissa ëd Bra'') is a sausage recognized as an Italian Traditional Agri-food Product ( P.A.T.). The sausage is produced in Piedmont, exclusively in the city of Bra, by butchers associated with thConsortium for t ...

a veal sausage originally made for the Jewish inhabitants of neighbouring

Cherasco Cherasco is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about northeast of Cuneo. As of 1-1-2017, it had a population of 9096 and an area of .All demographics an ...

. It is usually eaten raw.Commune de Bra
/ref>

Twin towns

* Spreitenbach, Switzerland * Weil der Stadt, Germany *

San Sosti San Sosti ( Calabrian: ; from ) is a '' comune'' in the province of Cosenza, in Calabria, southern Italy. History A highly decorated bronze axe-head was discovered near San Sosti in 1846. This votive offering was later bought by the collector ...

, Italy *

Corral de Bustos Corral de Bustos is a town in Argentina located in the district of Marcos Juárez, in the south east of the Province of Córdoba. History The town of Corral de Bustos-Ifflinger was founded in the early Twentieth Century, when the German Carl ...

, Argentina

Notes

Cittaslow Roero Cities and towns in Piedmont {{Cuneo-geo-stub