Cheeses of Bra
A Piedmont town that names its own cheese, where the Slow Food movement began and a big cheese fair is held every other year.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: September of odd-numbered years for Cheese; autumn for truffles.
Bra is a baroque town in the Roero hills of southern Piedmont, between the Langhe and the Alps. It gave its name to Bra, a cow's milk cheese traded here from the mountain valleys, and in 1986 it became the birthplace of the Slow Food movement. Every two years in September, the town hosts Cheese, a fair that brings makers from all over the world.
Bra and the cheeses of Piedmont
Bra tenero is a young, soft, mild cheese; Bra duro is aged for months until hard and sharp. Both are made from cow's milk, sometimes with a little sheep or goat milk, in the province of Cuneo. The valleys above Bra also make Castelmagno, a crumbly blue-tinged cheese, Raschera, a square mountain cheese, and many kinds of toma.
The town
Bra has baroque churches, a hilltop sanctuary and the university of gastronomic sciences at nearby Pollenzo, founded by the Slow Food movement. The town is known for salsiccia di Bra, a veal sausage eaten raw. The wine hills of Barolo and Barbaresco and the truffle town of Alba lie a short drive away.
A trail idea for Bra
- Bra old town The baroque churches and cheese shops of the centre.
- Cheese fair Visit the fair held in September of odd-numbered years.
- Pollenzo The gastronomic university and its old royal estate.
- Alba and the Langhe Continue to the truffle and wine hills nearby.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Bra, Piedmont" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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