The characteristic octagonal building of the Zizzola is located on the top of the highest hill in the town. Its location, visible from everywhere, and its particular shape have made it the true symbol of Bra. It was built between 1844 and 1845 by the wealthy silk merchant Tommaso Bruno, as a holiday home or 'villa of delights' for his wife.
The story of its name is curious, as it seems to have been given by the Dominican friars of Asti, who owned a small house for religious people in need of convalescence located not far from the hillock. The place was very similar to another property of theirs in Liguria, called zizzola due to the presence of a large number of jujubes or zizzoli, so they decided that the name would fit perfectly here too. When the Dominican Friars were suppressed in 1802, the name remained.
Together with its surrounding vineyard, it passed into the hands of the Maffei, then the Traversa and finally the Fasola family, who donated it to the municipality in 1962.
Today, it houses old and new evidences of the town's life, a real multimedia ethnographic museum known as "Casa dei Braidesi".
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