The night before we arrived at Locanda La Raia, a winery and boutique hotel just north of the tiny town of Gavi, we had dinner with two Italian friends at their Milan apartment. When we told them we were spending the next few days in Piedmont, their reactions were spontaneously enthusiastic. “It’s as beautiful as Tuscany but not yet as discovered.”

The view from La Raia the next day proved them right. Our gazes wandered past the pool and manicured herb gardens to the gently rolling hills crisscrossed with vines, views broken only by the occasional ochre-colored farmhouse and La Raia’s sculptures— which are part of their art foundation. The Locanda is in a neighborhood of magnificent villas. Next door is one of the most impressive, owned by the current head of Aston Martin.