The Amalfi Coast: The name alone has a way of conjuring magical, dreamy visions of seaside villages and surreally blue waters that run through many people’s minds when they think of “Italy.” Food from the amalfitana cuisine is equally dreamy, with foundational ingredients – especially bright lemons from the trees stretching way up high to the top of the cliff sides, local olives grown in much the same way, mozzarella di bufala from the surrounding countryside – that make up some of Italy’s most iconic dishes in the world’s eye.
While Naples is a mere stone’s throw away, lending its beloved pizza style and certain other culinary tendencies to the entire coastal area, there are (as always in Italy) plenty of local Amalfi Coast dishes that vary from town to dramatically perched seaside town. This area has always been popular, however, its star has shot up astronomically in recent years, bringing crowds (and luxury tourism) to match, but it’s still possible to experience the best foods from the Amalfi Coast while supporting local, small businesses.
Remember, often the “best” restaurants are not where everyone else is going. Here’s your guide to which dishes to try for a true understanding of la cucina amalfitana.
Pasticciotto Atranese: Pasticceria Pansa, Amalfi
Pastries might not be at the top of your food itinerary when you’re thinking of all the coastal delicacies to sample, but Pasticceria Pansa in Amalfi’s main piazza makes a strong case for prioritizing them – and, in fact, a strong case for going to the overcrowded Amalfi proper.
Pansa is a historic café (founded in 1830) that makes fabulous pastries and sweets right under the Amalfi Duomo, using historic recipes for both the famous and lesser-known treats of the region. Everyone there might be ordering a delizia di limone, the cake-like dessert made from local lemons, but the pasticciotto atranese is the better pastry to start your day.
It’s not quite the same as the one you might know from Puglia; in fact it is called atranese because it originated in the town of Atrani just down the road from Amalfi. Besides its slightly more refined appearance with a crimped edge, the crust is also somewhat lighter than its pugliese cousin’s, and the true seal of local specificity is evident in Pansa’s limone-flavored pasticciotto made with, naturally, Amalfi lemons.
Pro tip: Charming as the sitting-in-the-piazza vibe may be, if you don’t want to deal with the whole to-do – and higher price tag – of table service, you can order pastries to-go or even better, to eat standing at the bar (the banco) with a coffee, in the everyday Italian style.
READ: Our Amalfi Coast Suggested Itineraries.
Spaghetti alle Vongole: Trattoria da Armandino, Praiano
Nothing screams a seaside holiday quite like spaghetti alle vongole – especially for a sun-drenched lunch at a table overlooking the water, glass of white wine in hand. While it’s easy to spot spaghetti with clams in many places up and down the Italian coastline, it is said that the classic seafood pasta originated around Naples the costiera amalfitana, reflecting the local love for dishes that taste like the pure, saline sea in every bite.
Typically the vongole in these parts are small and dainty – known as vongole veraci – cooked with white wine and garlic, tossed with pasta, and topped with chopped fresh parsley. The pasta will feel even more like a slice of paradise if you order it at Trattoria da Armandino in Praiano, which is tucked into a gorgeous enclave of cliffs right on the water.
Scialatielli: La Tonnarella, Conca dei Marini
Every region of Italy needs its own signature form of long, twirl-your-fork-around-it pasta, and in the Amalfi Coast, it’s scialatielli – even if it was invented by a chef in Amalfi as recently as the 1960s. But the pasta is special for its somewhat unusual dough, which combines both regular flour and semolina flour (most fresh pasta in Italy falls into either category but rarely both) as well as a bit of added milk and grated cheese, which add a sort of comfort-food heft and pleasing thickness to the rustic-looking, irregularly shaped noodles.
At La Tonnarella, a no-frills beachside restaurant in the tranquil Conca dei Marini between Amalfi and Praiano, scialatielli is served in one of its most typical ways – ai frutti di mare, seafood that you know is freshly caught.
Alici di Cetara/Cetara Anchovies: Acquapazza, Cetara
Allow us to welcome you into your Anchovy Appreciation Era. Now is the time to shed any preconceptions you have of the flavor-packed fish, because any anchovies you’ve had in the past will probably not live up to the ones in Cetara, one of the coast’s less explored towns perched between Minori and Vietri sul Mare.
Consider this the best possible gateway (or Mecca, if you’re already a lover of anchovies) to anchovy world – Cetara, which has been one of the area’s major fishing hubs for centuries, is most revered for its anchovies as well as for colatura di alici, a fermented fish sauce that Cetara locals have been making since the thirteenth century.
Acquapazza, a restaurant in the center of town, features the treasured anchovies as a traditional antipasto of fresh fillets, slightly aged in barrique (wooden barrels, the way the maturation process begins for making colatura) and marinated in olive oil – as well as in spaghetti con alici or several other pastas, which may even use both fresh anchovies and colatura together.
Fritto Misto/Antipasti di Mare: Trattoria Da Emilia, Sorrento
In case you haven’t already guessed, eating on the Amalfi Coast means fish and seafood almost ’round the clock. You should enjoy a fritto misto (a shareable plate of several fried sea creatures) or an antipasti di mare (various preparations of seafood, such as calamari fritti or grilled bright red baby shrimp) for a festive start to a seaside meal at least once.
It’s almost obligatory at Trattoria da Emilia in Sorrento’s Marina Grande (which is really a more low-key setting than its name would imply), where eating al fresco (also practically obligatory) puts you just about a foot above the water gently crashing against the rocks.
LISTEN: To Savoring Sorrento – a food lovers guide.
Ravioli al Limone: Ristorante Torre Romana, Maiori
One of the best ways to try the delicious, intense flavor of Amalfi lemons is in ravioli al limone (also called ravioli all’amalfitana), which are stuffed with ricotta and lemon juice as well as the grated zest. The zest and peel are sweeter than in typical lemons and part of what makes the local variety so special. You can find these ravioli up and down the coast besides Amalfi proper, but eating them in a scenic setting is of course especially fun – like at the upscale Ristorante Torre Romana, in a thirteenth-century medieval tower that used to help protect the town of Maiori from invaders and now provides a dramatic and atmospheric cliffside dining experience.
Pizza Napoletana: Mimì, Ravello
Whether or not your trip to Amalfi includes time in Naples, you should absolutely take advantage of the Neapolitan pizza that pervades throughout the seaside towns; it’s as local a dish as spaghetti alle vongole thanks to Naples’ proximity to the coast. But just as in Naples, it’s important to make it count by frequenting a pizzeria that uses top-quality ingredients for true pizza napoletana.
Mimì in Ravello is one such place, with superior pizza that strikes an appropriate balance of traditional and more whimsical in their toppings. Ravello, situated in the hills just above Amalfi, is famous for a number of historic villas and their gardens that make it one of the most gorgeous towns in the area – Mimì helps this tradition live on with a beautiful garden with tables under a pergola, which will make you feel as luxurious as if you were the owner of Villa Cimbrone.
DISCOVER: The Beautiful Amalfi Coast towns you must see at least once.
Lydia O’Brien is cookbook editor, writer, and recipe tester based in Italy. She has lived in Rome, Florence, and Siena and spent a summer cooking at an agriturismo in Tuscany, after leaving the full-time publishing world in New York. Originally from Washington, D.C., she has a degree in English literature and spent a university semester in Rome studying food and art history.
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