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My family

From generation to generation

a story that began in the 1960s

In 1959, my father Franco, my mother Anna, and my father’s brother decided to open, with few resources and many debts, a quality restaurant with an attached pizzeria, “La Caravella.” It was a quality trattoria. In the 1960s, my parents were the first in southern Italy to receive a star from the Michelin guide. At the time, there were no more than 10 starred restaurants in Italy, and I don’t think my parents were aware of or understood its importance. The star was lost in the 1980s but was regained by me in the 1990s. Back then, earning the star for the second time was truly difficult. La Caravella has written an incredible story, a story preserved in the treasure chest of memories by characters who are no longer with us. In the 1960s, La Caravella proudly represented the meeting point for Grand Tour lovers on the Amalfi Coast, the place where tumultuous loves were born, where undisclosed agreements were signed, where everything contributed to making the Amalfi Coast what it is today, one of the most known and admired places in the world. In the 1960s, there were fewer than ten restaurants in Amalfi. In front of the entrance to our restaurant, there were benches made of Vesuvian lava, they were beautiful, unfortunately later removed to widen the road and allow buses to pass!!

Besides the restaurant, my mother had to take care of the house, with us young children, and I remember that in the evening, late after work, she would ask me every day to go down from the house to count how many people were still waiting on the benches to dine, so she could understand what time she would have to prepare dinner for my father. I was under 10 years old and I remember my annoyance (I was very shy) when my father introduced me to Aldo Moro, Gore Vidal, Jacqueline Kennedy, or lawyer Agnelli and many others I don’t remember, characters who wrote the history of the 20th century. La Caravella has always been the reference point for the jet-set from all over the world, today it is their home. We find ourselves at our tables with the world’s powerful in private visits, sometimes without even recognizing them. For us, all customers are special. The honor of having a unique clientele is the dream of all restaurateurs. Seeing loyal customers who return every year to spend an evening of their vacation at La Caravella, watching them go through the same ritual, moving with absolute ease during dinner in the gallery, passing through the kitchen, and then again in the cellar, is a great emotion and something that leaves you speechless. This is the reason that fuels the daily enthusiasm to get up every morning with the desire and passion of when I was 20 years old. And there are no other recognitions that can repay you for all this.

The oldest star in Southern Italy

a history spanning over 60 years

In 1987, after some experiences around the world, I started, the path was already traced. In those years, I was foresighted in understanding the change in direction of Italian cuisine; I began to change the type from trattoria to restaurant and, with the collaboration of my Maestro Antonio Cosentino, I started proposing new dishes that are still a reference for many restaurants on the Coast; I realized my dream: the cellar with temperature and humidity control, which was then a novelty. Many illustrious colleagues called me crazy. My passion was mistaken for madness, but I had simply anticipated the times. Today, our restaurant-wine-art formula has become the winning one for all excellent restaurateurs in the world. The “magic” formula to create an excellence like La Caravella is a lot of passion and heart, a good team, and little attachment to money. And then my foresight: always believing in it. Today, after more than 60 years, I find myself with a Museum alongside the restaurant. Our cuisine is known and appreciated by customers from all over the world. The Cellar, a Legend. The Gallery, the reference for the most beautiful and important ceramics of the Amalfi Coast… I often think back and doing all this today seems impossible to me. .
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