If you are here, that means we love you and you love us! Thank you for celebrating with us!

We first met in the hospital, where Riccardo was a third-year general surgery resident and Sam was a preliminary intern. We were both on the Emergency General Surgery service, and Sam made it a point to not look at Riccardo — despite being surrounded by his playful personality, charm, questionable jokes, undeniable charisma, Italian accent, and frankly excellent hairline. Sam was absolutely not looking to fall in love with her senior resident. When Sam rotated off service to colorectal surgery, fate intervened in the form of forgotten lavender essential oil left at a computer station. Conversation followed. Riccardo followed Sam on Instagram that night, and a few weeks later, in October 2022, we started dating. Since then, we’ve acquired a delightful gray cat named Nora, whom Riccardo has lovingly agreed to suffer for the rest of eternity, given his cat allergy — and in February 2026, we’re adding a new puppy to the mix, Selva, lovingly named after Riccardo’s favorite ski spot in the Dolomites: Selva Val Gardena.