And yet I had been thinking about the “agnello scottadito alla brace” for five long years. So when those four crusty, juicy, grilled lamb chops arrived, all oozing that deep chocolate sheen of perfectly cooked meat, I almost forgot where I was.

Where that was, though, was seated outdoors at Taverna Castelluccio, looking out at my favourite view of what is legitimately the most beautiful place on Earth: the Piano Grande of Castelluccio di Norcia. This tiny hamlet perched on a high rock straddling the border of Umbria and Le Marche overlooks central Italy’s vast and spectacular Great Plain, which, on this warm July afternoon, was in the middle of La Fioritura, the “flowering” of lentils that produces a massive rainbow carpet of red, blue, yellow and purple flowers.