Restaurateur Piero Selvaggio has announced that he will close Valentino, his Santa Monica Italian restaurant, at the end of the year. The restaurant, credited with introducing Angelenos to authentic Italian ingredients such as prosciutto, balsamic vinegar and white truffles, opened on Pico Boulevard in 1972. The restaurant’s last night of service is Dec. 31. Selvaggio says he plans to open a new Italian restaurant in Newport Beach called Louie’s Newport, in October.

“It wasn’t a sudden decision but the conclusion of a big chapter,” Selvaggio recently told The Times. He listed Valentino for sale in 2013, but took the restaurant off the market a couple of months later and decided to keep the restaurant, and introduce a new menu. “It has been a long, difficult decision, mostly based on a restaurant that has been my American dream, my claim of fame, my mistress.”