Chiara Saitta had built a career in fashion and film, working in costume design in Rome. Then a question about animal testing prompted her to investigate practices she had never considered. What she discovered changed how she viewed animals and the choices she made every day.
In this episode of the Better Life for Animals podcast, Chiara shares the journey that took her from the film industry to opening a vegan patisserie and eventually becoming executive director of Riza Animal Sanctuary in Portugal. Today, she helps care for around 60 rescued animals through a fully volunteer-run operation.
Her story reveals what it takes to turn compassion into daily action, especially when the work requires learning new skills, finding funding, and starting over.
A Search for Answers Becomes a Life Change
Chiara’s vegan journey began in 2010 after a friend raised a question about animal testing associated with pet food. She began researching and reading what she found aloud to her husband.
Together, they started questioning their participation in animal exploitation. They initially became vegetarian, then visited farms to learn more about organic and free-range production. Those experiences convinced them that these labels did not resolve their concerns about animal suffering. Within a month, they became vegan.
As her values shifted, working with clothing and materials in the entertainment industry became increasingly difficult. Eventually, Chiara decided to leave the career she had trained for and explore a different direction.
Vegan Pastries Open the Door to Conversation
Baking began as a way to make treats for her husband when vegan options were difficult to find. That interest grew into professional training and a partnership that led to opening Rome’s first vegan patisserie.
Located near a university, the bakery attracted customers who were not vegan. For Chiara, hearing someone say a vegan croissant tasted just like the version they already loved was deeply satisfying.
She wanted people to feel welcome and discover that familiar pleasures could be made without animal ingredients. Adding a lending library gave customers another way to learn about animals and explore the reasons behind vegan choices.
Meeting Animals Changes How We See Them
A visit to an animal sanctuary in Italy helped Chiara find a form of advocacy that felt personally sustainable. Meeting a rescued pig named Gorgo brought her face to face with the individuality of animals she had once eaten.
She began organizing trips so others could experience those connections. Her brother, who had already heard her explain veganism, made his own decision to change after a cow licked his hand during a sanctuary visit.
For Chiara, these encounters demonstrate why sanctuaries matter beyond rescue. They allow people to meet animals as individuals with personalities, preferences, and relationships.
Building the Systems Behind Compassionate Care
After moving to Portugal, Chiara discovered a sanctuary in Coimbra that needed help. She began volunteering and gradually took on greater responsibility.
She describes improving veterinary care, researching the nutritional needs of different species, changing diets, and creating better living spaces. Bringing in international volunteers made it possible to share daily responsibilities and tackle additional projects.
Her guiding belief is that rescue must lead to a better quality of life. Providing safety is the beginning of a commitment that also includes appropriate food, clean surroundings, medical attention, and consistent care.
Creating Income Through Community
Funding remains a challenge. Drawing on her business experience, Chiara founded the Coimbra Vegan Market, where participating vendors pay fees that directly support the sanctuary.
The market serves two purposes: generating income for animal care and introducing the wider community to vegan products and businesses. Donations and Patreon contributions provide additional support.
Her experience offers a practical example for sanctuary leaders seeking ways to connect community engagement with ongoing financial needs.
More Space and a Vision for Teaching
Chiara discusses plans to relocate to a larger, flatter property after years of struggling with water runoff and heavy mud at the existing site. Preparing the new space involves fencing, volunteer accommodations, and careful planning around the animals’ comfort during transport.
The property also inspired her vision for a vegan cookery school. Visitors could learn to prepare delicious food while meeting the animals whose lives those choices help protect.
Throughout the conversation, Chiara returns to the grounding influence of animals, including during her mother’s serious illness. Their daily needs and companionship helped her stay present through uncertainty.
Listen to hear how one woman’s willingness to change direction became a commitment to lifelong care, and how volunteering, sharing sanctuary stories, and supporting their work can help that commitment continue.
About Chiara
Chiara is an Italian animal sanctuary founder and vegan activist based in Portugal. She graduated in fashion and design and began her career in the film industry, but after going vegan in 2010, continuing to work with leather, fur, and animal-derived materials became incompatible with her values, leading her to leave the profession entirely.
In 2013, she pursued a vegan pastry course, and in 2016 she opened the first vegan patisserie in Rome. Two years later, she moved to England, where she worked as head pastry chef in restaurants in Brighton and founded a small vegan picnic business.
Her passion for animal activism had already taken root through her connection with Ipposi, one of Italy’s first animal sanctuaries near Pisa, where she discovered a form of activism deeply aligned with her vision — one focused not on images of suffering, but on showing animals living free from exploitation. She organised coaches from Rome to Pisa to bring people to visit the sanctuary.
The pandemic became a turning point. Reassessing her priorities, Chiara followed her long-held dream of founding a sanctuary and relocated to Portugal. In Coimbra, she discovered Riza Animal Sanctuary, a local sanctuary in need of support. She joined as a volunteer in June 2022 and gradually took on its full management. That same year, she also launched the Coimbra Vegan Market, a recurring event that brings the local community together and raises funds to support the sanctuary’s work.
Recognising the limitations of the original mountainous terrain, she spent over a year searching for a better home for the animals. In January of this year, Riza Animal Sanctuary purchased a new plot of nearly 3 hectares — almost six times the current size — to give its approximately 60 residents the life they deserve. Plans for the new land include a vegan cookery school, where Chiara hopes to bring together her lifelong passion for plant-based food and her commitment to a kinder world.
Chiara runs the sanctuary entirely on a volunteer basis. No one takes a salary. For her, this is not a job — it is her soul purpose.
https://www.instagram.com/riza.animalsanctuary/
About Cheryl Moss
Cheryl Moss is the host of the Better Life for Animals podcast, where she shares uplifting stories from sanctuaries and highlights the work of vegan activists, ethical consumers, and animal welfare leaders. She is also the founder of the Funding Blueprint for Sanctuaries summit, designed to empower those involved with sanctuaries to create sustainable funding streams.
A passionate advocate for animal welfare, Cheryl is dedicated to ending factory farming and supporting underrepresented sanctuaries.
Beyond podcasting, Cheryl is a banking professional and an accomplished children’s author. A graduate of Main Street Vegan Academy, she recently added Vystopia Transformation to her resume. The Vystopia work, created by psychologist Clare Mann, focuses on the emotional impact many people experience after becoming aware of animal suffering and exploitation. The training offers tools for resilience, communication, and emotional well-being while continuing to advocate for positive change.
Through her books, Gabriel, Cluck, and Pickle the Pig, Cheryl inspires young readers to embrace kindness, sustainability, and compassion for animals.
When not advocating, she enjoys Pilates and spending time with her rescue dogs and grandchildren. Through her work, writing, and activism, Cheryl continues to inspire positive change for animals and the planet.
https://www.facebook.com/BLFAnimals/
https://www.instagram.com/betterlife4animals/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylmossabetterlifeforanimals/
