150 years ago La Braida belonged to Nicolò Braida, a former official
of the Austrian-Hungarian Marine, whose family was from Udine. When he retired,
he decided to dedicate his time to agriculture. In those years agriculture
mainly focused on the growing of mulberry trees, vital to raise silkworms,
and corn, which was the basic nourishment for the local population. Lucerne
was also cultivated and used to feed the cows that were valuable for their
milk but also used to pull sleds and ploughs.
Since then, times have changed. The introduction of synthetic fibres had strong
negative repercussions on the demand of silk which led to the replacement of
the mulberry trees. Following this the corn plantations were also replaced
since polenta was no longer the main nourishment of the local population. Progress
also emptied the stalls of cows. Sugar beet growing became more and more popular
together with cultivation of soya, especially in the last 20 years.
Afterwards, the land passed by direct descent into the hands of the Piccolominis,
an ancient family from Siena (Tuscany) and to the Pampaninis, who shared a
deep love and passion for the land and therefore decided to continue the long
tradition of La Braida with this new project.
Beside being a family name, "BRAIDA", in the local dialect of this
region, means “piece of ground around a farmhouse”. In this “braida” animals
live alongside one another, and you can find poultry (turkeys, chickens, ducks,
hens and cockerels) donkeys and goats, and last but not least… HORSES.