Piemonte · Cuneo
Bra
A Roero town where the world's first gastronomic university now teaches food systems.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Bra is on our list
It holds UNESCO, Cittaslow and Spighe Verdi.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 54 min from Turin
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 29,673
- J8°
- F12°
- M14°
- A18°
- M22°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S24°
- O19°
- N12°
- D7°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Bra sits in the Roero hills, fifty kilometers southeast of Torino, on the north edge of the Langhe-Roero-Monferrato UNESCO wine landscape. The old center, with its porticoed Corso Garibaldi and Via Cavour, is the working core of town; above it a nineteenth-century pavilion looks out over the surrounding hills, and below, on the Tanaro, a frazione occupies the site of a Roman colony inside a former Savoy royal estate. Carlo Petrini founded Slow Food here in 1986 in response to a McDonald's planned next to the Spanish Steps in Rome, and the movement's headquarters has stayed in town since.
In 1999 Bra was one of the four founding cities of Cittaslow, the small-town quality-of-life network. The biennial Cheese fair, the largest event in the world for raw-milk cheeses, fills the old center in odd-numbered Septembers, alongside the town's own DOP cheese and its ground veal sausage, eaten raw by local custom. A town this size holding a global food movement, a gastronomic university, and a Roman site within its own borders is not an accident of promotion: it reflects a place that has treated eating and its history as civic matters worth building institutions around.
How to get there
From Turin (TRN), about 1 h 13 min by car.
Genoa (GOA) is about 1 h 57 min away.
By car from the center of Milan 2 h 12 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Turin, Genoa or Milan?
Coming by train into Torino Porta Susa? Bra is about 53 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Turin airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
La Zizzola
Octagonal pavilion on the hill above town, reached as the best panoramic point over the Langhe and Roero.
Palazzo Mathis
Fourteenth-century palazzo on the central piazza with frescoed main floor and eighteenth-century oil-painted door covers, now used for exhibitions.
Palazzo Traversa
Fifteenth-century building housing the Museo di Archeologia, Storia e Arte, with finds from the Roman colony of Pollentia.
Pollenzo
Frazione on the Tanaro built over the Roman Pollentia; the former Savoy royal estate there now houses the gastronomic university.
Centro storico
Long porticoed Corso Garibaldi and Via Cavour, lined with Piedmontese Baroque palazzi and historic cafés.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
BattaglinoRistorante
Battaglino has a Michelin Bib Gourmand, one Gambero Rosso fork (79/100) and a Slow Food snail.
Osteria del BoccondivinoTrattoria
Osteria del Boccondivino carries a Michelin Bib Gourmand, two Gambero Rosso prawns, plus a Slow Food snail.
Caffè Pasticceria ConversoPasticceria
Caffè Pasticceria Converso has a place on Italy's historic-locali register to its name.
2 more places the guides name in Bra
Osteria La PimpinellaRistorante
Osteria La Pimpinella holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
Scuderie SabaudeRistorante
Scuderie Sabaude holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Signature product
Bra DOP
Cuneo-province cow's-milk cheese, semi-hard, in two ages (tenero, duro); named for the town that holds the late-September Slow Food cheese fair.
See the towns we cover in the zone of Bra DOP.
Signature dish
Salsiccia di BraMeat
A soft, finely minced raw veal sausage, once granted a special licence to be eaten uncooked.
See every town in our catalogue with a dish of its own.
Living here
Could you live here?
Bra meets 2 of our 3 rules for a small town.
- 29,673 people, above our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: big enough that it can split into neighborhoods.
- Moncalieri, a city of 55,439, is 38 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
- A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
We measured every town in the region on these rules, by its drive to Turin, the city we moved to: Moving to Turin and Piedmont.
- Population 29,673, up -0% since 2015
- Nearest city Moncalieri, 38 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Verduno, 7 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €970 to €1,550 per m² to buy, €3.60 to €5.50 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 73% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Cuneo airport (CUF), 34 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Turin, 54 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
13% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Albania, Romania and Morocco, against 9% across Italy. 86 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United States, France and the United Kingdom. There are 201 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 17% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Cuneo province ranks 27th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Verduno, 7 km as the crow flies. It has a children's emergency room too. The nearest major one is in Cuneo, 39 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Turin, 36 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds between 0.69% and 0.79% to your income tax, depending on your income, with nothing due on income under €10,400. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Piemonte spends about €2,240 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €467 a year for water, on the Piemonte average. In Cuneo, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.34 and a meal in a pizzeria €12.38.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, under 1% in a high or medium one. They show no residents in a high landslide zone.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
SLOW FOOD
International headquarters of the Slow Food movement, founded in town by Carlo Petrini in 1986; host of the biennial Cheese fair.
BRA DOP
Cow's-milk cheese (with up to 10% sheep or goat) granted DOC in 1982 and DOP in 1996, in hard (duro) and tender (tenero) forms.
SALSICCIA DI BRA
Ground veal sausage made under a royal exemption unique in Italy and usually eaten raw; subject of the BRA'S festival each September.
Common questions
- What is Bra known for?
- Bra is a Roero town at 290 meters where the world's first gastronomic university now teaches food systems.
- Where is Bra?
- Bra is a comune in the province of Cuneo, in Piemonte.
- What is the nearest airport to Bra?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cuneo (CUF), about 34 min by car.
- Can you get to Bra without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Milan to Bra?
- About 2 h 12 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Bra?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Bra?
- Venaria Reale, Avigliana and Assisi.
- How many people live in Bra?
- 29,673 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Bra a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Bra is a small town that meets 2 of our 3 rules. The nearest city, Moncalieri, is 38 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Verduno, 7 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 73% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 290 m
- Population: 29,673
- Surface area: 59.53 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Bra appears in
- The best towns that eat well within an hour of TurinNear Turinwithin 60 mineats well7 towns · smallest 564 residents · closest 28 min away
- The best towns with a World Heritage site that eat well in PiemontePiemonteeats wellWorld Heritage7 towns · smallest 1,102 residents
- The best towns with a World Heritage site within 75 minutes of TurinNear Turinwithin 75 minWorld Heritage7 towns · smallest 506 residents · closest 28 min away
- The best towns you can reach by train that hold a World Heritage site in PiemontePiemonteby trainWorld Heritage7 towns · smallest 1,102 residents
- The best towns you can reach by train within an hour of TurinNear Turinby trainwithin 60 min7 towns · smallest 5,840 residents · closest 28 min away
- The 9 best hill towns with a World Heritage site in PiemontePiemontehill townWorld Heritage9 towns · smallest 506 residents
Featured on
Bra appears on this themed pick from our Collections:
Similar
Towns like Bra
What all six share with Bra: over 10,000 people · hill towns · have a railway station in the comune
Venaria Reale
Province: Torino
both inland, away from the coast
Avigliana
Province: Torino
both inland, away from the coast
- Written about. No. 62.
Assisi
Province: Perugia
both inland, away from the coast
- Written about. No. 60.
Magione
Province: Perugia
both inland, away from the coast
Fiesole
Province: Firenze
both inland, away from the coast
Putignano
Province: Bari
The letter
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