The Capital of the Roero
by Franco Piccinelli
The sanctuary of the Madonna dei Fiori was erected on the spot where, according to belief, the Virgin appeared. There, after her appearance the shrubs flowered, even though it was a cold winter.
I think that Bra, more than Alba, should be relieved now that the idea of creating a province taking in both cities - and their respective areas - has been shelved. The real administrative seat would inevitably have gone to one only, despite the coupled names, increasing the jealousies which already exist between the two. Certainly I am not guessing at random in seeing Bra as the loser, and Alba determined on reinforcing its own hegemony. Now, however, they both enjoy an equivalent high rank since they are both capitals - Alba of the Langhe and Bra of Roero. The name of the latter is of a rather recent origin, despite its ancient rural - and perhaps also ethnic homogeneity, well harmonized with industrial development.
The dome and bell tower of San Giovanni Battista, one of the city's most interesting churches. Interesting from an architectural standpoint are the Casa Traversa and the City Hall.
Bra - without the stressed vowel from Braida, a term which describes the vines planted in wide rows so as to allow the sowing of grain between them, is of a less ancient origin than Alba. It began - perhaps - with the birth of the second millennium, thanks to the initiative of the inhabitants of the neighboring and illustrious Pollenzo, as a fortress of the warlike De Brayda of Guelph sympathies, then passed under the dominion of the Asti,Ghibelline supporters, then the Anjou, the Visconti, the Orleans. It was conquered by Emanuele Filiberto in 1552 and after seven years it was united with Piedmont (House of Savoy), under the treaty of Cateau-Cambrèsis, remaining faithful to the then ducal house. It is recalled in the following episode - one among many: sacked by the troops of La Peuillade who imposed afine of thirty thousand Piedmont lire on the city (and to get the sum together silver ware from houses and churches was melted down, as well as bells and copper cooking pots). As soon as the town knew that Vittorio Amadeo II and the Prince Eugenie were about to march to relieve Turin, besieged by the French, it sent all its able-bodied men to help. And since, especially in times of real famine, well-fed bodies are even more important than ideals, they were "supplied with a quantity of wine, two hundred rations of white bread, and three rubbi of cheese, to further stimulate them in their service to the royal cause."
The Town Hall, the church of Sant'Andrea and Palazzo Garrone front the city's splendid Piazza del Municipio, in the center of which stands a monument to S. Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo.
Quietly proud, culturally open, nonclerical and religious, Bra, influenced by climatic trends which characterize the Italian provinces, is to a certain extent still similar to the profile drawn by Giovanni Arpino: "In the days of deepest winter, Bra is empty like a town of a hundred souls. The rarefied air, descending from the hill, whirls things around in the corners of the streets; the roofs of the city are black; there are occasional strollers in the early evening. Then as soon as it is dark, the bells send out icy peals which can be heard clearly from the town hall to the gardens of the station." But this was forty years ago, when, two months at a time thousands of Alpine recruits used to arrive, lodging in the monumental barracks, and frightened by the prospect of being on leave for the first time, immediately sought out the warmth of the taverns, bringing back the atmosphere of the town which had seemed lost for ever. The barracks are no longer there, or rather, they are now used differently. And there is no longer the novitiate of the Congregation of Don Orione in the Bandito area - it has now grown so much that it is part of the city whose name does not have a brigand origin but testifies to the great forced Lombard immigration at the time of the Visconti dominion. The Orioni settlers were housed in a great palace belonging to Count Moffa di Lision nicknamed Millemosche ( a "Thousand Flies" ). Bra always cherishes the memory of San Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolegno, the apostle of heart-felt charity, who was born here. And there is the basilica of the Madonna dei Fiori, in a modernized Baroque, with the old sanctuary that was erected in the place where the Madonna, in 1336, according to tradition, freed a young girl, from mercenaries, who threatened her chastity. After the appearance of the Virgin the bare bushes (it was the 29thDecember) flowered, despite the icy winter, a prodigy which is often repeated.
One of Bra's most important buildings, Palazzo Traversa, takes its name from the family that owned it in the nineteenth and twentleth centuries. The building was built by the Malabayla family in the fifteenth century.
Then there is architectural Bra, with the Casa Traversa, its most ancient building, the church of Sant'Andrea designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the municipal building, called the Little Carignano because it resembles the famous palace in Turin. And then a series of religious structures, Archconfraternities, and the palaces, mainly baroque, of the ancient overlords. Then there is the famous museum of natural history named after the Craveri brothers who created it, and a little museum of history and art, promoted by the historian Euclide Milano. And again, there is the Zizola,a formidable rotunda with a dome and a belvedere overlooking Bra and the Cuneo plane, from the 365 meters height of the ancient fortress, the Rocca Fonteria. The tanning industry, practically extinct used to provide wealth for the city, thanks to the extraordinary ability of the afaitur (in dialect), the tanners, united in an ancient guild. But the entrepeneurial talents of the people of Bra reconverted the productive sector and there are now engineering, chemical, clothing, wood-working concerns; vintners with great names; excellent dairies, which produce the wonderful Bra cheese and other foodstuffs.
Situated at the southern tip of the Turin plain, Bra features a great variety of churches. In the photo, the façade and bell tower of San Giovanni Battista.
Tourism focused on fine food and wines is in continuous growth in the city hinterland and the whole of the Roero, with autumnal truffles garnishing dishes prepared according to ancient recipes, and mushrooms, game and the legendary and convivial bagna cauda. And there is the great sport tradition of soccer, a discipline that arouses great enthusiasm, as in Piedmont and Liguria, and is now in an expansive phase after years of somnolence. An old ball court, the Sfersterio, in Bra is a reminder that the rites of peasant civilisation - old and new - have not been forgotten.Franco Piccinelli, giornalist and writer
Passage of : Arrivederci -Alitalia
Last updated 02_May-98
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