Our first Italian Supper was our most romantic Supper yet! On a hilltop overlooking Spina, Umbria, we set a secluded table in the dim candlelight of the medieval Castello di Saint’ Apollinaire. We started the evening with welcome cocktails in the courtyard, made with elderflower and olive oil pressed just down the road, as the light slanted low through the trees during golden hour.

For years, Sarah has been nursing another dream of a dinner at a long table surrounding the pond in the vineyards. While we didn’t quite have a long enough table to surround the pond, we walked the trail and immediately saw her vision — and immediately decided we had to make it come to life.

It’s every chef’s dream to break out of the kitchen and cook outside over open fire, and Chef Rick was equally focused and full of smiles as he passed between the pizza oven and the Asador all night, cooking and plating a beautiful meal inspired by Italian and Spanish flavors, full of ingredients grown in the valley or pulled from the Pacific Ocean nearby.