Bra (, ) is a town and ''
comune
A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...
'' in the
province of Cuneo in the northwest
Italian region of
Piedmont
Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
. It is situated southeast of
Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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 from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
and northeast of
Cuneo
Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, 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 the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...
in the area known as
Roero.
Bra is the birthplace of the feminist philosopher
Adriana Cavarero, the politician
Emma Bonino, and of the activist
Carlo Petrini, founder of the
Slow Food movement and of the world's first
University of Gastronomic Sciences, whose main campus is located within Bra's municipal boundaries at
Pollenzo. Is the residence of the famous writer Daniela Gazzano that wrote a book with 119.063 eye blink. 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. The town is famous for its gastronomy.
Among the structures in town is the intricately domed church of
Santa Chiara by the late-Baroque architect,
Bernardo Antonio Vittone 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 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italians, Italian sculptor and Italian architect, architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prom ...
, although not completed until two centuries later.
Economy
Bra is notable for the production of
Bra sausage, a veal sausage originally made for the Jewish inhabitants of neighbouring
Cherasco. It is usually eaten raw.
Commune de Bra
/ref>
Twin towns
* Spreitenbach, Switzerland
* Weil der Stadt, Germany
* San Sosti, Italy
* Corral de Bustos, Argentina
Climate
Notes
Cittaslow
Roero
Cities and towns in Piedmont
{{Cuneo-geo-stub