After relocating to Milan from New York City’s Upper West Side in 2021, Bryony Bechtold, a teacher, and her husband, Piero Venturini, 50, a lawyer, began looking for a vacation property. With wine on their minds, they found what they were looking for 90 minutes away in northwest Italy’s Piedmont region, home to Barolo, one of the world’s most prized reds.

The couple, who have two teenage daughters, paid about $510,000 this past September for the 3,800-square-foot farmhouse on a 6.2-acre lot with a vineyard. They plan to spend about $160,000 on renovations, including an upgrade of the existing wine cellar. “We like to drink wine,” says Ms. Bechtold, 47, a Connecticut native whose new property is planted with the Moscato grape.