A village topped by terracotta roofs would rise like a dream above rows of Tuscan-like vineyards. Except the “Italian hill town” would materialize in Cloverdale, in Sonoma County. Esmeralda Land, a startup developer based in Florida, is “conducting due diligence” to buy a 266-acre site of an old lumber mill to build a future tech utopia with the look of a rustic Italian village, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. 

The price of the land largely between the Redwood Highway and Kelly Road was undisclosed. The property is owned by Spight Properties II, a limited liability company based in Concord. In a series of posts on X, founder Devon Zuegel presented videos and renderings for “Esmeralda,” a master-planned neighborhood of buildings capped by terracotta, flagstone alleys lined with flower pots and vineyards along the Russian River.