To get to Livernano, a tiny hamlet in the heart of Italy’s Chianti region, one must turn off a perfectly comfortable highway and endure two miles of what the charming Italian driver calls “dirty roads.” On these lanes, two cars barely fit side by side, which is particularly unnerving on the hairpin bends. When the inevitable dust settles, a cornerstone comes into focus. The sign on it reads, Per Aspera ad Astra—Latin for “through hardship to the stars.”

It could be a metaphor for the long gravel road and the reward that lies beyond it—an enchanting inn and restaurant atop a hill from which tumble rows of Sangiovese vines. When an attendant approaches with a bottle of wine and two glasses—“Benvenuti a Livernano!”—the effort to get there evaporates, leaving only long views of vineyards and olive groves and spindly cypress trees, and the feeling that all is right in the world.