This place was born out of the great passion of the Favetto family. The Ranch – currently run by Chantal, the “baby of the family” – was founded by her dad Nicolino and her mom Marie Odile, innovators in their field and, above all, tireless hard-workers. The three were joined by Chantal’s brother Pier Leandro, who had a longstanding reputation as a horse-whisperer, and their sister Evelina, who in addition to working as a teacher had been constantly spending her free time taking care of the countless chores and tasks that are typical of country life. It’s been quite a few years now since Chantal decided to take over the reins of the family establishment and breathe new life into this magical place.

Migrated to France as a kid, Nicolino Favetto moved back to his hometown of Rueglio in 1961 with his wife and firstborn son. He had inherited a passion for horses from his dad, who used to drive a small gig on his regular trips to the town of Ivrea to get food supplies for Rueglio, their home village. In 1977 Nicolino founded his own horse breeding farm under the name Favetto-Forst, starting with a few saddle horses that he enjoyed riding in short countryside tours to the site of Cima Bossola with family and friends. He would later decide to breed trotter horses and bought the first mares.

The first foals bred from the farm were born in 1979. All the foals born thereafter would be identified by the VOL affix, short for Volpiano, the place where the farm is located. The horses born in the Favetto-Forst ranch have been heaping up successes in races at trotting circuits throughout Italy ever since, a source of increasing pride and prestige for the breeding farm.

In over 40 years, the Favetto family has won 16 medals as “horse breeders of the year”. The medals were awarded in recognition of the performance of the foals that made their debut in that given year.

Today, Nicolino’s ranch is managed by his daughter Chantal. The ranch facilities include 6 paddocks in a range of different sizes and 22 box stalls, all fitted with a feeder and a drinker. Some of the box stalls are used as foaling stalls for labor and delivery and are equipped with cameras to keep foaling mares under monitoring.

Over the last few years Chantal has diversified her activities making best use of the available facilities, placing horse breeding side by side with countryside hospitality. She and her family are thus welcoming their guests to a stay that combines leisure and relax with a strong environmental awareness and the protection of the local land. And they do so by opening the doors to their nice, recently renovated premises overlooking the paddocks of the Favetto Family Ranch and the untouched nature of the Valchiusella valley (Piedomont).

Inaugurated in the spring of 2021, the family ranch is organized into 3 comfortable rooms that can accommodate up to 10 guests and their four-legged friends. The wide hall at the entrance is the place where guests are served abundant, luscious homemade breakfasts or can indulge in reading, or, again, plan enchanting tours or trips drawing on the experience of their hosts. They’ll simply be embraced in the ranch’s warmly welcoming, genuine family atmosphere.