Image:  La Bürsch

Barbara Varese’s Family Bought & Renovated an Italian Borgo

In the Biella Alps, Barbara Varese's family gradually purchased and renovated an entire Italian borgo to create a stunning restaurant with luxurious hotel rooms and an event space for weddings and meetings.  

Perhaps destined to be here, Barbara's connection to Oretto goes back at least two generations – via her father and grandfather, who used one of the properties as a mountain retreat.  Nearly four decades ago her family started purchasing homes in the hamlet and, over the years, painstakingly renovated them.  Today, with eighteen homes acquired and refurbished, La Bürsch is an exquisite, award-winning establishment with an increasingly international clientele and a very popular venue for weddings and corporate events.

The Varese's ambitious borgo project has helped breathe touristic life back in to an area which was somewhat suffering from an economic perspective whilst likely also helping to correct a decline in population.  The family's significant investment, passion for their project and rejuvenation of the area has seen the hamlet featured on Kirsten Dirken's popular YouTube channel (watch her video below) and also written about in numerous online publications including CNA Biella and La Stampa.

Buy Your Own Hamlet (or perhaps just take a vacation in La Bürsch)

If you've fallen in love with La Bürsch and want to stay there, get married there or hold an event there, visit the La Bürsch website for more details.

If you've been inspired by the Varese's story and want to buy your own village, hamlet, ghost town or borgo, click here to search for villages, towns and hamlets for sale around the world.