Garbani, Rocco, Homestead

Rocco Garbani's homestead is a farm complex of about 14.5 acres south of Winchester, California, at the foot of the hills bounding the Domenigoni Valley. Garbani, a Swiss-born stonemason, received a homestead patent in 1891 and lived and farmed here with his family until his death in 1949. The core is a one-story stone house and a granary with a stone cellar once used to age cheese. Both were built with the 'a secco' method, in which rough rubble walls are laid without mortar and then plastered, a technique from northern Italy and southern Switzerland. Other features include barn and blacksmith shop retaining walls, a poultry coop, a privy, a well, a reservoir, a dam, an animal enclosure, a quarry and a eucalyptus windbreak. The property is recognized for its link to Italian-Swiss settlement and farming in western Riverside County, for its rare construction method, and for its archaeological potential. The complex is currently vacant.