Life at Villa Topini del Bosco moves at its own pace. Mornings begin with coffee on the top floor balcony - a moka pot, a valley view, and nothing pressing - before the day opens up into whatever you want it to be. The kitchen is genuinely equipped for those who love to cook: a double Smeg gas hob, pasta machine, baking tins, and a built-in fireplace that doubles as a BBQ for evenings when dinner deserves to be built around a fire rather than just eaten beside one.

 

Well loved books line the living room shelves, the kind of library that makes it easy to lose an afternoon entirely. When the mood turns competitive, the hallway chiffonier holds Scrabble, Rummikub, chess, Monopoly, and a range of puzzles - the sort of collection that has  a habit of starting arguments and ending in laughter.

 

For those who want to venture out, the surrounding countryside more than delivers - wine tastings five minutes down the road, Roman ruins and excellent restaurants in Acqui Terme, an hour from Barolo and Barbaresco, the medieval hilltowns of the Langhe, a full day on the Ligurian coast, or the grandeur of Genoa for those who want a city that earns its drama. But the truest pleasure of this house may simply be the decision to not go anywhere at all - to let the pergola and the vines and the particular quiet of a Piemontese countryside envelop you.