Originally the "Famèi" (a dialect term for "family" = servant of the house, of the family) was a typical figure of the peasant society of the Po Valley.
In some cases, when poverty did not allow all the children to be fed at a young age, the "Famèi" was "rented", through mediators, to wealthier families who exchanged their services for food and accommodation.
In other cases however, the "Famèi" had the role of assistant, when large seasonal movements from the mountain pastures to the rich pastures of the lower plain were organised.
The transfer was managed by the mountain farmers, better known as "Bergamì", who maintained their residence as well as the ownership of houses and stables in their country of origin, but in the summer they took the herds to the mountain pastures and in the autumn they came down with their flocks and their herds on the plains to exploit the hay until the following spring.
Alongside the "Bergamì", who was entrusted with the herd, there were the "Famèi", the helpers and finally the bocia, the shepherd children.
Finally, a separate figure was that of the "Casèr", the cheesemaker, the one who knew the secrets of cheese production better than anyone else and who turned his profession into an art.