The tales of "Mulino Nuovo" and of "Battaglia" are my roots: two farms in the heart of the Padan Plain, between Soresina and Castelleone, where my parents grew up: places where life was simple, there wasn’t much to do but people lived there contented.
Nowadays I live not far from a place called Isola Gerola: a poplar wood on the banks of the Po, with an extensive beach where- when as a teenager- I used to walk my very first dog Malik with my father to check the slow growth of the trees. Little conversation arose between us but we were happy together.
While studying in Milan or working in London, I would have never imagined that one day I would come back here on the riverside, doing exactly the same things.
After having lived and taught alpine skiing for 15 years in the high peaks of Sansicario in the Milky Way (Torino) during the winter and having worked, during the summer, as a scuba-diving instructor, sailing among the crystalline depths of the Maldive Islands and their atolls, my life changed when one day Lluvia arrived form “Casa Biagini”.
Lluvia moved from Tuscany to Fenils, a small village made up of antique mountain homes at the foot of Chaberton, on the 25th January on a snowy, freezing, wintry -15° day.
Lluvia is a very sweet chocolate Labrador retriever bitch with a strong personality and a formidable work instinct.
We had many things in common: passion for snow and the cold, long walks in the woods and a love for children. While a puppy, Lluvia grew up together with my 3 year old cadets at the Fun Park baby slope.
Then she met her mentor: Kitzbuel, the dog who led her onto the path of adventure; this new found friend was an enterprising and reserved leonberger and our neighbour in Fenils.
In the shadows of Chaberton the two dogs used to go daily into the woods following the trails of deer, roedeer and mountain hares: otherwise they’d follow the alpine climbers up to the mountain peak. I’d then receive phone calls telling me that the dogs were with them and they would have shared their food supplies.
Every evening when I went home, Lluvia was there waiting for me. Both worn out, we told each other about our day’s event and we enjoyed well-deserved deep and happy dreams. This happy way of life finished at the end of the season when we met the first wolf of the valley: he was beautiful -grey, white and reddish. No one wanted to believe us until when, during the summer, one of our neighbours lost some sheep; so Lluvia had to become a wise and mature dog avoiding running off down the valley and consequently becoming the first bitch of “Fiocchi di Neve e Gocce d’acqua”
Since then we’ve always spent our summers together in the safer and nearer waters of Portofino. On the headland we enjoy naps and long walks in the wild olive woods or invigorating dips during the hot summer days.

The catalyst of my wanting to start breeding was Stefania Roche from the "Grand Roche" breeding Centre, specialized in Golden Retrievers and most of all Cecilia, her daughter, who had learnt her skiing from me. Stefania’s tales of puppies, bitches and litters convinced me to start this adventure , especially as I had learnt from their experiences how wonderful it could be to live "hand in paw" with so many four-legged friends.
The meeting with Giovanni Majolino of the black and chocolate Labrador retrievers "Allevamento della Lontra" as well as being our vet, recommended by Stefania herself, was the trigger effect of such a rapid growth of our common passion for Labradors.
I consider my amateur breeding centre "Fiocchi di Neve e Gocce d'Acqua" as an extension of the work in common with "Allevamento della Lontra".
From this union three protagonists emerged:

Da questo connubio sono arrivate:
AGUA de Lluvia, a chocolate bitch;
Agua NIEVE, a black bitch (Yuppy della Lontra);
DI- DIRCE, a black bitch from della Lontra
And surely…..other bitches will come along.


'We are literally all bitches, exclusively black or chocolate of good bones, with good angulations in front and rear and with masculine heads , we are free from all displasic and ocular pathologies. Giovanni Majolino follows and runs meticulously the appropriate genealogical choices according to the most suitable bloodlines.
We are lively, sportive with excellent muscles; our coats and skins are well-maintained considering the climatic conditions we live in. Good results in competitions make us train with enthusiasm.
The only blonde sheik in our harem in Benjamin, a golden retriever born in the year 2000 who is lovingly recognized as the “favourite”.
We are a Labrador family with a lot of friends. At the weekends, our grown-up pups, together with other dogs of different breeds, come to visit us in the country and we are always ready to accompany them on long walks. Every summer, we put up a little swimming pool in our garden, and every winter, under the snow, we can find our bag of games and balls to play with. In the evening we turn on the music and we dance to the fast rhythms but we also like slow numbers before going to bed. We adore the company of the ski-club children and of other canine friends.'

I feel that breeding while travelling through mountains, at the seaside, along the river all year round is unique even though hard work, considering all my other working activities. As I usually say, at least one hour a day is for ourselves, and we have got space for ourselves. We walk happily in the snow and through the woods, along the river, under the olives, along the coast with the occasional dips from the Olivetta cliffs……and this is what gives us the strength to go further all together.
I couldn’t have chosen better!!!