Casanova Pizzeria last dished out pies on Valentine’s Day in 2015.

Now, half a decade later, owners hope to make their triumphant return.

Owner Dan Guild installed a brick oven in a former convenience store on Vista Ave. at Kootenai St. in 2005. It quickly built up a loyal Bench-and-beyond following over the next decade.

But Guild didn’t own the building, and eventually, a dispute with the owner forced Casanova to close.

Tom Allegrezza opened his own pizza joint in the building known as Orbit Fire Pizza. He renamed it Allegrezza’s Italian Cuisine. The venture quickly failed.

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Later, Kacey Montgomery and Shannon Lincoln opened what would become Red Bench Pizza at 1204 S. Vista, bringing back a popular pizza spot to the intersection.

All the while, Guild looked for a new place to set up shop for Casanova Pizzaria. He evaluated 31 potential locations over two years and started to negotiate a lease on six of them, according to a website post.

A return for Casanova Pizzeria

“We don’t know what is in store for the Casanova name, if we will revisit the possibility of reopening in the years ahead,” the 2017 posting said with a tinge of hope.

Fans of Casanova’s Neopolitan-style wood-burning oven pies may get another taste.

A newly-posted video in the style of The Godfather movies touts a 2020 return. The video shows a man dressed up like a mafia Don. The man, who appears to be Guild, drives through Downtown Boise with a vehicle bearing THECLAM license plates. He gets out, opens the trunk revealing a pizza paddle, a shovel and what appears to be a sack of flour.

He grabs the paddle, slings it’s over his shoulder and heads for a building before the video fades to black, promising a return for Casanova Pizzeria in 2020.

The man walks toward an empty restaurant space in the newly-constructed Adare apartment building at the corner of 25th St. and Fairview Ave. Colliers International listed the 2,100 square foot restaurant space for lease earlier this year.

No permits for the restaurant have yet been filed.