About us

The impressive building was built around the end of the 18th Century. There are no records about the history of the house at that time, but memorials handed down from generation to generation tell that a Don Riccardo, a clergyman, was leaving there around the end of the 19th Century. The large ground around the building, that in the beginning extended until the lake, was planted with vineyards and fruit trees and cultivated by the women of the village that were working for the clergyman. When he died, Don Riccardo bequeathed the property to the Cottolengo of Turin, an institute still existing nowadays for people with physical and psychical diseases.

Around the beginning of the 20th Century the Cottolengo sold the property to the company De Angeli Frua, that owned some manufacturing industries located in the area of Milan and on the Lake Orta. During the summer season the Family De Angeli Frua changed the property into a summer residence for the children of its employees, using part of the house for the breeding of the silk-worm in the winter season. The vineyards and the big fruit trees were replaced from great mulberry trees to feed the silk-worms. The yarn was then used in the Family’s industries.