Albergo Ristorante Ciocca

The name Ciocca derives from the Piedmontese "cioca" -campana- and it owes its name to the bronze marching which in antiquity recalled the laborers at the midday break. Sound and ringing, it marked the rhythms of the working day. They ran in the early nineteenth century when, in a plot of the countryside of Capriglio, smiling and peaceful village in the province of Asti, the Occhiena family moved its first deeds of great landowners. The Occhiena had been nicknamed "those of la Cioca", by virtue of the large bell that reigned over their farmhouse and recalled the laborers from the lands. In 1865 they sold the property of Capriglio to buy the one in Piazza Dante, called the "vegetable gardens" due to the presence of fields; at the time the village was still called Castelnuovo D'Asti but soon it was converted into Castelnuovo Don Bosco, in honor of the Saint, son of Margherita Occhiena, direct descendant of the family and more famous with the name of "Mamma Margherita". One of the four sons of Occhiena, Enrico, created the "Ciocca" inn here, with a stabling, a rental car (carriages), a postal service and a funeral horse transport. The management of Enrico followed in 1930 that very famous in the country of "Madama Cioca", Mrs. Telesfora, with her husband Edoardo. Where today the restaurant stands there was the swarm of cattle, horses and their owners. The first half of the fifties had come and the Ciocca had earned a happy reputation as an entertainment inn, but by now the stallation era was coming to an end. He gave way to cars and the Rustichelli family, in the person of Mr. Carlo, current and fortunate manager. At the behest of the latter, since 1968, the old inn was slowly transformed and embellished, until it became the hotel it is today. The imposing bell, still undisputed protagonist, continues to play.