How a Noble Italian Dynasty Ended Up on a Ranch in the Deep South

2 min read

If you think about it, the American South isn’t that different from the Italian country­side. There are the rolling hills and bucolic landscapes. There is the slower pace of life. And there are the shared values around family and community, good food and great hospitality. So perhaps it wasn’t such a stretch that, in 1977, the Duke and Duchess Visconti di Modrone, members of one of Italy’s most storied aristocratic families, found themselves drawn to a huge plot of land in a tiny town called Gay, Georgia (current population: 110). To be fair, it wasn’t completely by choice: The turmoil of ’70s Italy, mostly wrought by the Red Brigades, had forced them to leave Milan. But once they found this place they never looked back.

QuercusQuercus

The couple (pictured above) first turned their sprawling estate—which they named Quercus—into a working ranch, where they raised horses and bred Limousin cattle. By the ’90s they had turned it into a hunting reserve to host blue-blooded European friends for quail hunts. Through it all, Quercus has always been a family home.

It still is­, now under the stewardship of their daughter Chiara Visconti di Modrone. She is ushering in the next evolution of her childhood idyll: as a 4,000-acre regenerative farm and Relais & Châteaux property, where everything is rooted in the land, from the food (made by Atlanta star chef Ryan Smith with ingredients harvested on-site) to the experiences (equestrian pursuits, fishing, and kayaking). “We’re not forcing anything here,” Visconti di Modrone says. “It’s just what naturally exists.”

Quercus

Quercus operates on a (sumptuous) back-to-basics philosophy.

While all of the four guest cabins are reinforced with wellness luxuries like cold plunges, saunas, and red light panels, Quercus operates on a simpler philosophy. “We are so caught up with the next shiny object or sexy treatment,” Visconti di Modrone says. “But if you don’t have the basics that are at our disposal for free—fresh air, light, greenery—all that fancy stuff can only go so far.”

This story appears in the Summer 2026 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW

Leena Kim is Town & Country’s Editor, covering the travel, jewelry, style, arts and culture, education, and weddings beats. She has no priors—she has been at the magazine for 11 years, having started her career at T&C as the assistant to the editor in chief.