The house is an original, listed, stone structure. The oldest part of the house is from 17th century. The restauration was performed by local craftsmen specialising in old stone built houses and churches. The result is a unique house with beautiful details, where the traditional is combined with Scandinavian simplicity.
Peaceful view of the vineyards
The property is situated in a secluded location among vineyards, and the atmosphere is idyllic. The peace and beauty greet you the moment you step out of the car. The view of the valley and vineyards, with the snow clad Alpine peaks on the horizon, is simply wonderful, and the grounds are bathed in sunlight from dawn to dusk. This is real wine country and the rows of vines seem almost endless.
A holiday villa for the whole family
The house is 226 m2 and lies seclude in grounds of 17,000 m2 surrounded by vineyards. The house is 2 storeys, plus a private wine cellar of 25 m2. Both the living area storeys have underfloor heating.
There are 4 bedrooms and a TV room with sofa bed on the 1st floor, a total of 8+2 beds plus 2 infant travel cots. There is a television, PlayStation/Blu-Ray, plus Wi-Fi in the TV room. Wi-Fi is included in the rent. There are 2 bathrooms on the 1st floor, one of which is en suite.
On the ground floor there is an entrance hall, washing machine, bathroom, lounge with custom built wood burning stove, and a kitchen-diner. The dining table in the kitchen-diner seats 10, and there are 2 highchairs for infants.
There is direct access from the kitchen to the covered terrace and the beautifully situated infinity pool.
Both house and pool are tastefully lit in the evening.
The history of the house
The house dates back to 1700th century, when the oldest part was built. Our part in its history started in the summer of 2011.
We had dreamt of a holiday home outside Denmark for a long time, and we had spread our search far and wide. The place we saw in our imagination was a rustic, old, stone built house, way out in the country, preferably with a fantastic view, in a country with a pleasant climate, and good food and wine. We spent our summer holiday in Northern Italy in 2011, which is when we contacted Jesper Remo, who knows a lot about Piemonte and arranges the acquisition of old stone houses. He had 3 properties for us to see. One sunny and very hot day in July we drove round the area with Jesper, on the narrow, winding mountain roads, to see if we could find something that might become a holiday home. It was love at first sight when we came to the ruin of Cossano Belbo. The feeling of peace crept over us as we walked up the gravel road to the house. Our family and friends had trouble seeing it in the same way as we did, but we were hooked. In the autumn holiday that same year we became the happy owners of an uninhabitable ruin with 17,000 m2 grounds.
Chance brought us together with our local entrepreneur, engineer and architect, and the restauration project began to take form. They have all made a highly skilled and professional contributions and created a house that fulfils all our dreams. The restauration has taken 3 years and the house was finally ready for habitation in the summer of 2014.
Our Italian team
The dream of a house in Piemonte would never have become a reality without our fantastic Italian team.
Eva Vittori is a young architect with a sure sense for aesthetics. She does not give up until she is completely satisfied and has found the very best solution.
Egeria Montaldo is our very conscientious and meticulous engineer, who kept a keen eye on the quality of the construction throughout the whole process.
Massimo Martino is an experienced specialist in the restauration of old churches and stone built houses. With his extensive knowledge of local materials and building traditions, he did a beautiful job with complete respect for the spirit of the house.