The passion for animals was born when he opened his eyes. He has always loved dogs, horses and sheep, Ettore Rio. The father as a young man had run a small business with 3/4 cows, but then he had found a job as a janitor and had sold everything before Ettore was born. "When I was a child, instead of going to play football with my friends, I preferred to go after the elderly farmers of my country, Monchio delle Corti ". Then he went to school, but always with animals in mind. Finished the professional ones, without saying anything in the house, he bought the first sheep. Then others, then still others. In the meantime he had begun to be an artisan, carpenter and window maker. "At a certain point, in 2008, I have come to have 60 sheep. I told myself: or I sell everything, or I leave with a flock. I left". Now the sheep are 600. Hard trade, and more complicated by bureaucracy. In June he brings the sheep to Schia and Pratospilla, around the 2000 meters. In mid-September it goes down to Monchio delle Corti, he cleans up all the fields until November. Then we leave for the Ticchiano pass, then divides the flock: one part in the Enza valley and the other in the Parma valley. Depending on the climate, you go down towards Langhirano more or less quickly. So he waits for May or June to start again. Meanwhile, bisogna armarsi di pazienza e ripartire con il lunghissimo iter dei permessi. An overwhelming bureaucracy: just for that, for some years Ettore Rio's flock hasn't come down to the city anymore, in the shore of Parma.