At Pico da Vigia in the parish of Santa Bárbara, on Terceira Island in the Azores, six simple houses, reminiscent of stone barns, blend into the landscape of green and grey. In addition to their unique identity, they share such exquisite luxuries as simplicity, privacy, comfort, and views of both the sea and the mountains.

In a harmonious fusion of antagonisms, they combine the rurality of a fireplace/wood-burning oven in the kitchenette with the modernity of fibre-optic Wi-Fi; or the classicism of restored antique furniture, interspersed with the straight lines of exclusive pieces by Álvaro Siza Vieira.

The Pico da Vigia team is responsible for tasks such as supplying breakfast goods, delivering bread daily, or cleaning the house weekly. Guests are left with responsibilities such as living or smiling, for example, by the communal pool with views of São Jorge and Pico.

If, as the son of Terceira's Maria Magdalena, Fernando Pessoa, said, ‘literature is the most pleasant way of ignoring life’, then Pico da Vigia is certainly a poem.