The first finds which point to the presence of a settlement on the site of Bruno date back to the Bronze age, in the shape of two cinerary urns unearthed by the Belbo river, now in the museum in Alessandria. The name of the village is believed to derive from the Celtic word “brigodunum”, meaning hill of the fortress or castle. Bruno was probably founded in the fourth century BC by the Gauls of the Acqui area. Local place names, however, all have Germanic origins, testifying to the fortified settlements established by the Lombards.

With an area of 919 hectares, the commune of Bruno lies among the first hills of the Alto Monferrato area (towards the Langhe) and the plains of the river Belbo. Over the last few decades, as the countryside has emptied, agriculture has been concentrated in the more fertile areas, mostly in the Belbo plains. Woods of chestnut, oak and acacia cover the rest of the hilly areas. The fields on the flatland are planted with corn, wheat and forage.

The Marquis Alessandro Faà of Bruno (1809-1891) distinguished himself for his dedication to agriculture. In the nineteenth century the Faà estate was one of the largest in the Alessandria and Acqui areas, taking in various communes, but with Bruno at its centre. The Marquis pioneered several cultivations in Bruno, including saagaban, a potato substitute, and farmed silk worms.

POPULAR SAYINGS

The area boasts a whole host of proverbs, sayings and rhymes, some popular throughout the Alto Monferrato, others typical to Bruno: a veritable river of creative folk wisdom. Each day of the year has its saint, and in rural culture every saint has inspired at least one proverb. Each day and each saint could almost be said to have its own weather conditions: “A Santa Caterina o è neve o è brina” – “On Saint Caterina, snow or frost”;
“San Patrizio, il tempo fa capricci” – “On Saint Patrizio, the weather goes wild”.