My motivations were, admittedly, selfish: I had been wanting to rent a vacation villa in Italy for years, but, for reasons beyond my comprehension, no one I knew shared that interest. So, when my parents’ 50th anniversary rolled around, I cloaked my desire in a proposal to celebrate their life milestone with them and some other family members in Italy for a couple of weeks. There was rapid buy-in, and I was soon planning a two-week journey for seven people, which began with a week at Villa Cascina Martinenga in the small town of Cereseto in Piedmont. Read about it >