Historical Marker · No. 621
Italian Swiss Colony
Cloverdale, Sonoma County · California
Erected by California State Park Commission, 1957
The bronze calls it a colony, and it was meant to be one. Andrea Sbarboro, a Genoese immigrant who ran savings-and-loan societies in San Francisco, planned a cooperative in which every vineyard worker would buy between five and fifty shares. The workers would not buy in, and it became an ordinary joint-stock company. The name honored Italian-speaking Swiss from Ticino, but the enterprise soon became entirely Italian. Its first vintage, in 1887, turned to vinegar; the chemist Pietro Carlo Rossi made the wines that won the medals.
What the plaque says
Italian Swiss Colony Here in 1881 Italian Swiss immigrants established an agricultural colony. Choice wines, produced from grape plantings from the Old World, soon brought wide acclaim. By 1905, ten gold medals were awarded these wines at international competitions. Registered Historical Landmark No. 621 Plaque placed by California State Park Commission, October 24, 1957.
Where it stands
38.76284, -122.97396 · Directions
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