In Cavi di Lavagna, we leave the main road behind to follow a winding path of curves. Salita Paradiso 4. Casa Pernice is here, hidden behind a series of villas and gardens. The property consists of two buildings, connected by a patio and a lawn that wraps around the walls in the front and the back. The sea is a dominating presence, stealing the scene, winking, hypnotizing, and when we’re not looking at it, it distracts us with its salty scent. This is the Gulf of Tigullio, from the promontory of Portofino to Sestri Levante. Giorgia and Davide tell us that this family home, no longer in use, was once an old hunting lodge. They gave it new life to live in and to welcome guests in the three rooms they have prepared. They renovated it with their own hands, furnishing it with elements of vintage design and maritime references: some waves, plenty of stripes, seashells. The old lodge was named “La Pernixea,” “the partridge” in Genoese dialect. They tell us that last autumn, they harvested the olives from their 232 trees by hand, and their first oil turned out to be fruity, fresh, and a bright green. The house is still evolving, “as it changes, we change too.” In the kitchen, Giorgia is in charge of the oven and desserts, while Davide focuses on the savory dishes. Breakfast is a feast set up, if the weather is mild, on the long outdoor table. Homemade bread and pastries made with sourdough, seasonal fruit, eggs from their chickens. Then there are themed dinners, pizza cooked in the wood-fired oven next to the garden, the Sunday roast. Giorgia and Davide also prepare lunches and dinners on request. Tonight’s menu includes broad beans with caciotta cheese from the Cabannina cow, pea and mint soup, spaghetti with agretti, and strawberry-rhubarb tart. We feel like the chosen ones, placed on a sea-view Olympus, with the world continuing its business far away from here.

Word and pictures Meraviglia Paper.