Dominic Giovanetti, Catherine and Joe Bartolomei’s great grandfather, immigrates from Lombardy Italy to Forestville and takes a job as a laborer at the Wohler Ranch, across the street from the Farmhouse Inn, where he learns how to farm hops. Dominic continues to successfully farm hops for 16 years and dreams of someday owning land.

After years of hop farming, Dominic had saved enough to purchase 84 acres of farm land 3 miles away on present day Giovanetti Road. On the family ranch he planted apples, prunes, and wine grape. During prohibition, Dominic built a still and bootlegged as there was no market for wine grape. The proceeds from this period of time allowed him to build a grand Italianate home on the property. Forestville was a tight-knit community. The Giovanetti family knew the Johnson family, and their children all attended school together at the Forestville Elementary School.

The family homestead thrives, a place always simply called "the Ranch", was a Haven for friends and family, a hub where relatives from all over Northern California would gather every weekend, often 60 strong, and proprietors Kate and Dominic would love them and feed them. Catherine and Joe grew up spending their weekends at the Ranch, with their great grandmother and grandmother cooking and feeding family and friends.

The farmland is sold off and the outbuildings were converted to rental cabins and the Johnson’s homestead property became the Mirabel Horse Ranch.

In response to the closure of Wohler Beach and the newfound popularity of the area, the property becomes the Russian River Lodge, the first gay resort on the Russian River. Just across from the Wohler Road turn-off, on River Road, stood a dilapidated old farmhouse, with cabins and a pool, that had served as a B&B in the earlier glory days of the Russian River. The new owners slapped on a few coats of paint, scrubbed out the pool, and the areas first gay resort was in business.

Several bath houses are illegally built on the property. Each bath house consisted of a private room with a shower and an in-ground hot tub. It is said that there were as many as 12 bath houses dotted over the entire property. The present day Grange is the only remaining bath house structure and below the wood floor is a concrete filled hot tub.

The property was purchased and converted into a 6 room bed and breakfast by AnneMarie Smith and her sister Cookie. For the first time ever, the property was legally permitted to operate as a lodging establishment. The sisters do extensive work renovating the old house to its former glory and converting the cabins into modern cottage rooms.

The Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast officially opens for business.

After years of scheming, Catherine's suggests her and Joe check out the long for sale Farmhouse Inn just a few miles down the road. Joe immediately say, “no way, that place is a worn-out dump,” having driven by it a million times and always thinking who the heck would ever stay there? But Catherine perseveres... They have an immense love of food and farming and believe that someday Sonoma and Russian River Valley could be a place someone might want to visit. They believe that if they can show people their Sonoma, the place they grew up, through their eyes, they’ll fall in love with it too!

28 year old Joe and 32 year old Catherine Bartolomei make the bold move to purchase the Farmhouse Inn on a shoestring budget and with a lot of elbow grease, they commit to make it something great! With a small loan from their father and an investment from their stepbrother, they closed escrow on February 14, 2001. Their big dream, to emulate the Michelin-starred country properties that they had fallen in love with in the south of France. They have an ace in our pocket, Steve Litke, the former Executive Chef, who actually came with the property, is immensely talented and eager to do something much bigger. And we adore him.

In August 2001, they officially reopened a much better version of Farmhouse (yes we kept the name, we liked it!) with a remodeled restaurant and cottages. Immediately Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle gives the restaurant 3 1/2 Stars and in 2002 Travel and Leisure Magazine ranks it one of the top 10 inns in America.

Farmhouse Inn is awarded a coveted Michelin One Star designation, the first of 14 consecutive straight seasons until Chef Litke’s retirement in 2021.

Catherine and Joe open 8 new “barn” rooms in the back of the property. This new building is built to resemble a barn and is in the exact location of Johnson's original barn. They don’t know what that building looked like, it had burned years before, but the original foundation gives us the footprint and rough dimensions. These are the most luxurious rooms in Sonoma and start to put Farmhouse on the map as more than just a small country inn.

Our most ambitious construction project yet, 9 new guestrooms and a brand new spa. The property also undergoes a massive amount of upgrades to the outdoor spaces and landscape. The vision is starting to come together.

Travel + Leisure Magazine Ranks Farmhouse the #1 Hotel in California and #8 in the world!

Cottage Remodel Phase I. For over 100 years these rooms have been worker housing, vacation rentals, a boarding house, a bed and breakfast, and now a small luxury inn. In 2019 these rooms saw the most extensive remodel that they've ever seen, stripping them down to the studs and completely rebuilding them to be the best version of the farmhouse cottages that they can be. These new rooms, while smaller than our larger newer rooms, have all the same amenities, charm, and style you would expect here at Farmhouse.