Top spots in Naples & Amalfi Coast

Coco Loco is located near the beautiful Via Filangieri and to the famous Via Chiaia right amidst the unique shopping district of Naples the one with the biggest concentration of high-end handmade menswear in the world. This stylish place took the Naples dining scene by storm a few years back, and it remains popular thanks to the innovative cuisine of master chef Diego Nuzzo. A bar runs the length of the restaurant, where salami and other glorious tidbits are served. But for the real deal, take a table and be pampered with subtle dishes such as insalata di aragosta e gamberi alla catalana (lobster and prawn salad garnished with citrus).

Overlooking the road leading to the splendid Sorrento Coast, you will find La Tradizione of the De Gennaro family. A workshop 🔪 with home cooking and a true embassy of the best typical Campania products, fine and sought after, sourced locally or found far away and selected by Salvatore De Gennaro. The owners' profound knowledge of regional products, obsession with quality, and enthusiasm are what make La Tradizione so special. They sell uncommon, micro-produced cheeses like grotto-aged provolone del Monaco 🧀 and a pecorino made from the milk of Laticauda sheep a rare breed of sheep found around Caserta. Travelers should look for culinary souvenirs: taralli (ring-shaped breads studded with almonds and black pepper), regional pasta shapes from the artisanal Gragnano cooperative, extra-virgin olive oil, local honey, hard-to-find Sorrento walnuts, or sun-dried figs. Do not miss the aubergine Parmigiana, the ragù, and the Genoese, the dairy products of the Lattari Mountains to accompany with the wheat biscuit, the long-aged meats, the laticauda lamb, and the 🥩 black pig. All this and a well-stocked cellar are the pretext to often explore this corner of paradise for gourmands.

Peppe Guida 👨‍🍳 and his family has been doing good for Campania and southern Italian hospitality for decades. Peppe's restaurant in the village of Vico Equense is a gourmet destination boasting a Michelin star. But as summer approaches, the food spectacle continues in Villa Rosa, the countryside residence of Peppe and his table. Peppe's cuisine speaks of a culinary legacy - of Grandma Rosa and the Neapolitan culture - in a family where all of his sisters could be leading a restaurant brigade themselves. Peppe loves to use the finest produce from the sea and his land to produce some of the most memorable 🍝 pasta courses and antipasti that Italy as a whole country can praise. Most meal starts with a delicious meatball hors d’oeuvre and likely ends with Peppe’s zeppole fritte. Don't miss linguine with provolone and lemon or the outstanding parmigiana and the spaghetti with simple fresh tomatoes.

Acqua Pazza restaurant in Cetara - the 2 Gennaro owners, one in the kitchen one at the table are longtime friends and also great producer of "colatura di alici", the praiseworthy millennial anchovy sauce of the Amalfi Coast - uses the best of the local produce, much of what makes Cetara worth the food journey. The star of the show in Cetara is undoubtedly the local anchovy, which come in all sorts of guises and provides a reason to why people travel to this little fishing village specifically for the seafood. At our Gennaros friends we loved them with EVOO, garlic and lemon zest. Another must dish to try are the spaghetti with colatura.

A great friend of ours Rocco Iannone - one of the best chefs in his 40s in Italy, put on a side by the gotha of the Michelin and fine dining for having criticised heavily the haute-cuisine and the use of chemicals in the late 90’s… - is the resident chef of Forte Village in Sardegna but has his own Tenuta Nannina in Penta not far from Cava de’ Tirreni and Vietri right at the mouth of Amalfi Coast. Tenuta Nannina is a farm in which all the members of Rocco's family give their best energies, assisted by tireless farmers and artisans. The love for the land, for the kitchen, for the ingredients produced in a natural way have pushed the volcanic cook Rocco Iannone to transform everything into a new "gastronomic concept". The menu rotate constantly and can include Chard ravioli with broad beans, bacon and rosemary, Spaghettoni with Cetara anchovy sauce, Seafood pasta and potatoes, Giffoni Hazelnut pie and the unmistakable Maddalene with vanilla cream and celery ice cream.