About Our Lady of Mount Carmel · Cloverdale, California
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a historic Catholic mission church located in the unincorporated community of Asti, just south of Cloverdale in Sonoma County, California. Long served as a mission of nearby St. Peter Parish in Cloverdale, it sits on Asti Road on land once associated with the Italian Swiss Colony winery, and the original sanctuary was housed inside a former wine conservatory built in the 1890s and remodeled into a chapel in 1908. The mission was placed on the Sonoma County Historic Landmarks list (Landmark #22) in 1976. In 2023, severe deterioration of structural beams and the roof forced the closure of the building, and in 2024–2025 the Diocese of Santa Rosa prepared the property for sale as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, listing the building — described by the Press Democrat as 'a postmodern parabola reminiscent of a wine barrel,' built in 1965 — for sale at $450,000. The mission's website is hosted at stpeterscloverdale.org, the St. Peter Parish site.
- Established
- 1890s
- Patron
- Our Lady of Mount Carmel (La Madonna del Carmine)
- Rector
- Fr. David Galeana (Pastor of St. Peter Parish, Cloverdale — the mission church is served from St. Peter's, not by a resident pastor)
- Diocese
- Diocese of Santa Rosa
Why belong here
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a small mission church with deep roots in the Italian Swiss Colony wine community of Asti, just south of Cloverdale. Visiting or belonging here connects Catholics with a historic Santa Rosa Diocese mission that served Italian immigrant wine-making families for more than a century. Worship, sacraments, and parish life are coordinated through St. Peter Parish in Cloverdale, with bilingual (English/Spanish) Mass and confession opportunities listed on the parish schedule. Because the building itself was closed in 2023 for safety and prepared for sale in 2024–2025, anyone wishing to participate in the parish's ongoing life today is best served by joining the community at St. Peter Parish, where Our Lady of Mount Carmel's mission community continues.
Mass times at Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Wednesday 6:00 PM – 6:45 PM (Bilingual, listed at St. Peter Parish)
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Mission — Asti, Cloverdale
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a historic Catholic mission church located at 26300 Asti Road in the small community of Asti, just south of Cloverdale in Sonoma County. It belongs to the Diocese of Santa Rosa and is administered as a mission of St. Peter Parish in Cloverdale; it has never had its own resident pastor. The mission is served from St. Peter Parish (491 S. Franklin St., Cloverdale), and the parish phone line — (707) 894-2535 — is shared between the two.
- Type: Mission church (no resident pastor)
- Diocese: Santa Rosa
- Served from: St. Peter Parish, Cloverdale
- Patron: Our Lady of Mount Carmel (La Madonna del Carmine)
- Feast day: July 16
History of the Mission
The mission was founded to serve the Italian immigrant workforce of the Italian Swiss Colony winery at Asti in the late 19th century. The earliest sanctuary was a wine conservatory built in the 1890s on Asti Road, which was remodeled into a chapel in 1908 and used for decades. As the congregation outgrew the original structure, a new, larger church — a postmodern parabola design evocative of a wine barrel — was built in 1965 on 1.3 acres nearby; the older 1908 chapel was eventually demolished. Sonoma County recognized the site's historic significance by designating it Historic Landmark #22 in 1976. The mission continued under St. Peter Parish until around 2023, when severe deterioration of structural beams and the roof forced its closure.
- 1890s — Wine conservatory built on Asti Road
- 1908 — Conservatory remodeled into a chapel (half-barrel-vaulted)
- 1965 — Current church built in a postmodern parabola / 'wine barrel' style on 1.3 acres
- 1976 — Designated Sonoma County Historic Landmark #22
- ca. 2023 — Closed due to severe rotting of beams and roof
- 2024 — Pastor Fr. David Galeana announces decision to sell
Alternate Historic Names
Because of its origins as the chapel of the Italian Swiss Colony winery and its Italian immigrant congregation, the mission has been known over the years by several different names — all referring to the same building or its successor on Asti Road.
- Our Lady of Mount Carmel
- Asti Chapel
- La Madonna del Carmine
- El Carmelo
- Italian Swiss Colony Church
Architecture
The original 1890s/1908 building was a half-barrel-vaulted structure, reflecting its wine-making origins. The current 1965 church — described by the Press Democrat as 'a postmodern parabola reminiscent of a wine barrel' — was a deliberate architectural echo of the Asti wine country, though one local writer noted the later structure 'in its expanse of paved parking lot, evokes a beached whale, not a wine barrel.'
- Original 1890s conservatory / 1908 chapel: Half-barrel vault
- Current church (1965): Postmodern parabola, wine-barrel-inspired design
- Site: 1.3 acres on Asti Road
Sale and Closure (2023–2025)
On 14 July 2024, Fr. David Galeana — pastor of St. Peter Parish, Cloverdale — wrote to parishioners explaining that, after roughly fourteen months of closure caused by severe rotting of structural beams and the roof, and after exploring alternatives with the parish Finance Committee, the difficult decision had been made to prepare Our Lady of Mount Carmel for sale. The Diocese of Santa Rosa subsequently moved the property toward sale as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, listing it in 2025 at $450,000 (with the Press Democrat naming the intended buyer as Arturo Jimenez). It was sold together with the historic St. Francis Church in Hopland, both classified by the diocese as mission churches no longer actively hosting Mass.
- Closed for safety, ca. 2023
- Pastor's letter announcing sale: 14 July 2024
- Listed at $450,000 in the diocese's Chapter 11 bankruptcy
- Intended buyer (per Press Democrat): Arturo Jimenez
- Co-listed with St. Francis Church, Hopland (sold for $275,000)