In the historic centre of Oria, a walled hilltop town in inland Puglia, this first-floor townhouse comes with its own private staircase from the street, around 77 sqm of interiors and a rooftop terrace looking straight at the castle walls and the green of Parco Montalbano. It is currently in use as a professional office, which means the rooms are in daily use and easy to read: a straightforward layout to turn back into a home.

Your own stair takes you up to a bright reception room with the original decorated cement-tile floor, a patterned border and ceilings tall enough to make the whole floor feel generous. Next to it is the largest room, with French doors opening onto a balcony over the rooftops of the old town. The alcove under the stairs, today a small work corner, is plumbed-ready space for a shower room should you want this room as your main bedroom.

A small hallway leads to the compact kitchen, which has its own open space at the back, and to the bathroom, tiled in soft aqua green with a bath, a window and a dark terrazzo floor. From the same hallway an internal stair climbs to the second floor.

That is where the terrace is, and it is the reason to see this house. Wide, private and enclosed by stone walls, it is made for long dinners outdoors with the castle in view. On the same level, a room still in shell condition, with exposed beams and terracotta ceiling, can become a guest bedroom with its own bathroom or an open-air summer kitchen.

Heating is by gas-fired radiators. The first floor is in good order and would benefit from some updating; the second-floor room is unfinished. Two clearly defined jobs, not a whole-house project, and the property is sold freehold, in full ownership.

Everything in Oria is walkable: shops, cafés, the castle, the Sunday rhythm of a town that still belongs to its residents. Trains reach Brindisi in about 30 minutes, Brindisi airport is under 40 minutes by car, Ostuni and the Itria Valley around 30 minutes, Lecce about 45 and the coast roughly 40. A town-centre home with a private terrace of this size is also well placed for seasonal letting between visits, in an area where visitors increasingly look inland for lower prices than Ostuni or Alberobello.