Sipping an Aperol spritz aperitivo on the wrap-around porch at New Hamburg’s Puddicombe House is decidedly summery gratification, ideal entertainment for watching people, enjoying a cool breeze on a hot day and mellowing — as fall weather slowly but surely approaches.

The tranquility sets in contrast the snappy appearance of a lunch that comes in the form of an outside-in pizza: the Stromboli. We could approach the dish geographically: Stromboli is an active 900-metre volcano sitting a few hundred kilometres from Sicily in the Tyrrhenian Sea.