Ranching, an Italian-American Tradition

For the past 150 years, many Italian families have made their living off of cattle ranching in the Mother Lode foothills at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The early Italian immigrants became one of the main groups in the ranching industry of the Sierra foothills which are dotted with Italian family ranches to the present day.

Some of the oldest ranches in the Mother Lode were started by the early Italian pioneers, The  Fregulia Ranch in Jackson was started in 1852 by Domenico Fregulia

from Genoa and is operated as a cattle ranch today by great-granddaughter Carolyn Fregulia and her three children. Giuseppe Rosasco came  from Genoa in 1860 and by 1907, the Rosasco family owned seven ranches in Tuolumne County. To the right is the Old blacksmith shop on the Fregulia Ranch at Jackson, California dating from the 19th century.

 The family still operates a 5,000 acre ranch near Sonora. The Cuneo ranch at Calaveritas was started in 1850 by immigrants from Genoa and is still operated by the Cuneo family as is the Sanguinetti Ranch and scores of other Italian family ranches in the region.