Hey there, food lovers and wanderers. If you’re looking for real Italian food in Sedona, you can stop looking. Imagine stepping into a small restaurant in the back streets of Rome — the espresso machine going, someone shouting an order, bread that smells like it took time. That’s what we built here, on 89A in West Sedona.
Family Operated Since Our First Kitchen in 1996
We’re not one of the many restaurants around here. We’re family operated, we serve with humility and pride, and we cook the food we actually grew up on — Sicilian from Palermo, Piemontese from Torino, Roman by training. Whether you’re craving pizza, a memorable dining experience, or a pinsa romana after a long hike, Vespa is your go-to destination. No doubt.
Food Is Our Love Language
What Actually Makes Us Different
Seventy-Two Hours of Patience
Our pinsa dough is four ingredients — flour, water, yeast, sea salt — and it rests cold at 4–6°C for three full days before anyone touches it. That is what makes it light and crisp at the edge. We did the waiting so you don’t have to think about it afterward. How the dough works →
Flour From the Man Who Invented Pinsa
Pinsa romana was created in 2001 by Corrado Di Marco. We buy our flour from Di Marco — the original three-flour blend, not an American approximation. Milled outside Rome, certified non-GMO, screened for pesticide residue under European standards. Our pasta is made fresh in Italy and imported; we don’t pretend to do it better than people who have done it for generations.
Two Grandmothers
Nonna Pina taught this family the kitchen. Nonna Maria taught the coffee bar. That is why we are a café and not only a restaurant — the espresso here is its own discipline, handed down by its own teacher. Meet the family →
Easy on the Body
Long fermentation, clean sourcing, four ingredients, and a bread that sits lighter than standard pizza. Food that doesn’t sit on you for the rest of the afternoon — which matters more than usual when you’ve got a trail to get back to.
Perfect Location
1350 W State Route 89A, Suite 22 — West Sedona, not Uptown. Easier parking, and we’re open from 11am every day without closing between lunch and dinner.
A Culinary Journey Through Italy
Sicilian aubergine, Ligurian pesto, Roman flatbread, and the desserts that close an Italian meal properly. Our menu is a map of where this family comes from. See the full menu →
72-HOUR FERMENTED | FOUR INGREDIENTS | ROMAN FLATBREAD
NOT GLUTEN FREE: UNIQUELY BETTER.
Our menu is a trip through Italy — Roman flatbread, Sicilian aubergine, Ligurian pesto, and the desserts that end every Italian meal properly.
Some dishes live beyond the main list. Ask us what is available or explore our secret menu.
LA PINSA ROMANA
Roman Style Pizza
Ten varieties on a 72-hour, 85%-hydration dough. Oval, not round. Airy inside, shattering at the edge. Start with the Margherita if it’s your first time, or the Rucola e Prosciutto if it isn’t.
ANTIPASTI & INSALATE
Appetizers & Salads
Bruschetta Capri, Burrata Caprese, organic leaves with apple and toasted pistachio. Italian starters wake your appetite rather than blunting it.
SORRISI FARCITI
Sandwiches
Built on the same three-day dough, filled and folded. Lunch that doesn’t slow you down.
People come to Sedona and search for pizza. Then they find us and see the word pinsa, and reasonably wonder whether they’re about to be talked out of what they wanted.
You’re not. Pinsa romana is pizza — it’s the Roman version, and it’s older than the Neapolitan one everybody pictures. Round versus oval. One flour versus three. A few hours of rising versus seventy-two.
What that means when it arrives: a base that’s crisp underneath and open inside, with a bit of chew and no grease. It doesn’t fold like New York pizza and it isn’t soupy in the middle like Neapolitan. It’s its own thing, and once people have had it they tend to stop comparing.
We bake it on stone over gas at around 608°F. Not a wood oven — Neapolitan pizza wants ferocious heat for ninety seconds, and this dough doesn’t. It wants steady heat, held exactly, from the first order at 11am to the last one at night. So if you searched for the best pizza in Sedona and ended up here: you’re in the right place. It just took us three days to get ready for you.
Nonna Maria taught this family the coffee bar, so the espresso here is not an afterthought. Italian beans, pulled the way it is drunk in Rome — standing at the counter, quickly, no ceremony.
The wine list is short and chosen to sit alongside this food rather than to impress anyone. We keep a proper range of amari, the herbal digestivi that close a meal in Italy — a little sweet, a little bitter, and kind to a full stomach.
Espresso That Wakes You Up: We use the best Italian coffee beans to make espresso that’s rich, strong, and totally authentic.
Wines for Every Taste: Red, white, rosé – we’ve got a wine to match your mood and your meal. Let us help you pick the perfect one!
Cool Cocktails and More: From Italian NA sodas, classic aperitivos staples like Aperol Spritz and Campari soda, to Locally sourced Mocktails, and Classic Martinis and Craft Cocktails, we’ve got plenty of ways to quench your thirst.
Amaros (Trust Us): These herbal liqueurs are a classic Italian way to end a meal. They’re a little sweet, a little bitter, and totally unique.
Planning Your Visit
WALK-INS WELCOME | DOGS WELCOME OUTSIDE | OPEN 11AM DAILY
No reservations, and that’s on purpose
We don’t take bookings. Walk in and we’ll find you a table. The quiet window is 11am to 12:30pm — hikers come off the trails around 1pm and every kitchen in Sedona gets slammed at once. Come before noon and you’ll barely wait.
Bring the dog — here’s how it works
Dogs are welcome at our outdoor tables. It runs a little differently from inside: order at the counter, we pack it up for you, and you carry it out. There’s no table service outside, and Arizona liquor law keeps wine and cocktails indoors. But after a morning on the trail together, you and the dog get to sit down in the Sedona air instead of eating in the car — and that’s worth knowing before you drive over.
Order ahead or take it with you
Order online through Toast and collect, or call and we’ll have it ready. Everything on the menu travels — the pinsa in particular holds up far better than pizza does.
Open straight through
11am to 9pm Sunday through Thursday, 11am to 10pm Friday and Saturday. We don’t close between lunch and dinner, which in this town is rarer than it should be.
Finding us
West Sedona, on 89A — not Uptown. 1350 W State Route 89A, Suite 22. Free parking in the plaza lot, though it fills up around the middle of the day like everything else in this town. Another reason to come before noon. Directions and landmarks →
CUSTOMIZED MENUS TO SUIT YOUR EVENT | OFF & ON-SITE EXPERIENCE
We cater weddings, private parties, corporate events and retreats across the Sedona area — the same kitchen and the same 72-hour dough, wherever you are celebrating.
Every event is fully custom. Tell us what you are planning and someone will reach out within 10 minutes. Guaranteed. That is the thing our clients mention most.
CAREER GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT | EMBRACE THE VESPA SPIRIT
Join our team at Vespa. We value excellence, creativity and a real commitment to hospitality — the Italian kind, where looking after people is the job rather than a policy.
The Zacchino family came from Piazza Sant’Onofrio in Palermo, by way of Sanremo on the Ligurian coast, and opened its first American restaurant in Phoenix in 1996 — Tutti Santi by Nina, still going today. Vespa came later, and further north.
Leonardo is the patriarch. Matteo runs this kitchen. Over the years we have become the local’s favourite and a visiting must, and the reason is not complicated: we cook the way our grandmothers taught us, and we treat people like they have come to the house. More about the family →
Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.
Emma & Mateo were amazing! We were a young family with two young hangry boys in tow. They literally licked their plates. The food was delicious, the wine, the vibe, the service - perfection! We will 100% be back soon. Best laid back eatery in Sedona.
Seth Fink
24 May 2026
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What a marvelous restaurant. Great food and top notch service. Highly recommend going.
Sunday Wise
27 March 2025
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Delicious pizza and good vibes!
Bob Roberts
3 April 2025
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Alec our server was just the absolute best. A total riot he had us laughing so hard! Great great place highly recommended!
Mandy
10 March 2025
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You can't eat on the patio if ordering alcohol and they also said something weird about you all have to eat from takeout containers. My pizza/not pizza came with scissors. I asked her to cut it with the pizza cutter in the back and she did. Weird. The entrees do not come with pasta as one might expect from chicken parmesan. TheSiciliana pizza/not pizza had weird flavor and a lot of onions but hardly any eggplant. Also, it's fried eggplant, not roasted. Service was attentive. No, would not recommend, no, would not return. And a surprise $2 for a side of Parm to add to the weird tasting pizza/not pizza.
Emily Meade
13 February 2026
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+7
Awesome experience at Vespa’s!! We were a group of 6 adults looking for a delicious late lunch after hiking 4.5 miles nearby, and Vespa delivered! We ordered a variety of items including the burrata, focaccia, salads, lasagna, a few of the pizzas, and most of the desserts- and EVERYTHING was delicious. Francesca, our server, was wonderful, helpful, and fun! She gave great recommendations and we loved it all.
Darren Norman
8 April 2024
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This place was fantastic. It was good enough for the whole family to want to go back during in our 4 days in Sedona. We tried over half of the pizzas they had in the menu and they were all devoured. The salads were shared were also good. We finished the night with Tiramisu and a couple espressos. I wish they had a place like this back home.
davide p
29 June 2024
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All our Italy in Sedona Passing through Sedona during a roadtrip we decided to stop for dinner in this place. We immediately met Matteo, the owner of the place who immediately put us at ease and was very kind and considerate to us - as with all the other patrons. The pinsa was excellent, so much so that we had an encore. Fresh and genuine products, needless to say Made in Italy. We also liked the resourcefulness of betting on pinsa, getting out of the main stream of the usual pizza. Scommessa vinta, grazie Matteo!
Daniel Ruth
29 June 2025
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+7
My family and I stopped by to get some delicious food and we were delighted to find out that their food was made with care, this is some of the best food I’ve ever had definitely stop by to get something!
Ken Wimberly
10 June 2026
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+3
We stumbled into Vespa on a pass-through of Sedona with no expectations and walked out having experienced one of those rare meals you immediately want to repeat. The owner, Matteo, greeted us personally and steered us toward the right order without hesitation. That kind of engaged hospitality is increasingly rare and it set the tone for everything that followed. We ordered the Marocchino, espresso martinis, and worked through a spread of desserts: the Tiramisu, Cannoli Cream Pinsa, and Cornetti. The Tiramisu was textbook in the best sense — layered, balanced, not oversweetened. The Cannoli was inventive without being gimmicky. The Cornetti is dangerous; you will order another. But the foundation of everything here is the bread. The Pinsa dough follows old Italian technique, slow-fermented using imported wheat, soy, and rice flours. The result is impossibly light, crisp outside, soft inside. It reframes what you thought you knew about Italian dough. If you are anywhere near Sedona, this is not optional. Vespa earns a standing reservation every time we pass through.
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