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 in the northwest
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
region of
Piedmont
it, Piemontese
, population_note =
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, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
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. It is situated southeast of
Turin
Turin ( , 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 from 1861 to 1865. The ...
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
Roero (; pms, Roé ) is a geographical area in the north-east corner of the province of Cuneo in Piedmont, north-west Italy. This hilly region is known for its wines and for its fruit production: particularly the peaches of Canale and the local ...
.
Bra is the birthplace of the feminist philosopher
Adriana Cavarero, politician
Emma Bonino
Emma Bonino (born 9 March 1948) is an Italian politician. A senator for Rome, she served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2014. Previously, she was a Member of the European Parliament and a member of the Chamber of Deputies. She serve ...
, and of the activist
Carlo Petrini
Carlo Petrini (born 22 June 1949), born in the commune of Bra, province of Cuneo, Italy, is the founder of the International Slow Food Movement. He first came to prominence in the 1980s for taking part in a campaign against the fast food chain ...
, 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
The University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) is an international university located in northern Italy. The campus is in Pollenzo, near Bra, a city in the north-west region of Piedmont. Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food Movement, establish ...
, 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 and the church of St. Andrew, the facade of which was designed by the architect
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, although not completed until two centuries later.
The town is famous for its gastronomy and 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
Spreitenbach ( High Alemannic: ''Spräitebach'') is a municipality in the district of Baden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, located in the Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal'').
It lies southeast of the district center, directly on the ...
, Switzerland
* Weil der Stadt
Weil der Stadt is a town of about 19,000 inhabitants in the Stuttgart Region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is about west of Stuttgart city centre, in the valley of the River Würm, and is often called the "Gate to the Black For ...
, Germany
* San Sosti, Italy
* Corral de Bustos, Argentina
Notes
Cittaslow
Roero
Cities and towns in Piedmont
{{Cuneo-geo-stub