Naples & the Amalfi Coast Travel Guide
How to Eat in Naples and on the Coast
What to eat and how to order it — Neapolitan pizza and its rules, fried street food, coffee rituals, sfogliatelle and babà, Sunday ragù, buffalo mozzarella, and the lemons, seafood and limoncello of Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.
Food in Naples is not a sideshow to the sights; it is one of the sights. This is the city that gave the world pizza, and it guards the craft fiercely: in 2017 UNESCO added the art of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo to its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. But pizza is only the beginning. Naples eats on the street, at the bar, at long Sunday tables and by the sea, and a little knowledge turns every meal into an event.
Neapolitan pizza, properly understood. A true Neapolitan pizza is soft, not crisp: a thin centre, a puffy, blistered rim (the cornicione) charred in spots by a wood-fired oven at very high heat, and a cooking time of barely a minute or two. The two classics are the margherita (tomato, mozzarella or fior di latte, basil, olive oil) and the marinara (tomato, garlic, oregano, oil, no cheese). Order one each and you have the essence. Neapolitans eat a whole pizza each, with knife and fork, or fold it; it is not shared by the slice. Prices at the historic pizzerias are remarkably low, and the best are often the simplest. Expect queues at the famous names on Via dei Tribunali and around the station at peak times: put your name on the list, wait outside, and do not be shy. The pizza a portafoglio, a smaller pizza folded into quarters and eaten from paper on the street, is the cheapest great meal in Italy.
Fried and wonderful. Naples' street food is largely fried, and largely irresistible. Pizza fritta is a pizza folded and deep-fried, stuffed with ricotta, provola, pork crackling or tomato; it was the food of the poor after the war and is now a cult. The cuoppo is a paper cone filled with fried seafood or with fried vegetables, croquettes of potato (crocchè), little balls of dough with seaweed (zeppoline) and fried mozzarella. The frittatina is a disc of fried pasta with béchamel, peas and minced meat. Arancini, the rice balls more associated with Sicily, appear here too as palle di riso. Find them at friggitorie, fry shops, in the historic centre and the markets.
Coffee, the Neapolitan way. Coffee in Naples is a ritual: short, strong, sweet if you like, drunk standing at the bar in a cup that is often warmed first, usually with a glass of water. Pay at the till or the bar as the custom of the place suggests, and do not linger; the bar is a pit stop, not a café. The caffè sospeso, the suspended coffee paid in advance for a stranger who cannot afford one, is a Neapolitan tradition that still survives in some bars. Ask for a caffè, not an espresso.
Pastries. Two are essential. The sfogliatella comes in two forms: the riccia, a crisp shell of many thin layers of pastry, and the frolla, a smoother shortcrust version, both filled with ricotta, semolina and candied citrus. The babà is a small, mushroom-shaped yeast cake soaked in rum syrup. Add the zeppola of San Giuseppe in March, the pastiera at Easter (a tart of ricotta, cooked wheat and orange blossom), and struffoli at Christmas, little fried dough balls in honey and sprinkles. The historic pastry shops of the centre and Via Toledo serve them warm from the oven.
The Neapolitan table. At lunch and dinner, look for the dishes of home. The Neapolitan ragù is a slow-cooked tomato sauce with large pieces of meat, simmered for hours on Sunday and served with ziti or other pasta, the meat following as a second course. Genovese, despite the name, is a Neapolitan sauce of onions cooked down for hours with beef. Pasta e patate con provola, pasta mista with beans, and spaghetti alle vongole (with clams) are everyday classics. Friarielli, a slightly bitter green, often appear sautéed with sausage. Mozzarella di bufala, from water buffalo in the plains of Caserta and Salerno, is best eaten fresh, the same day it is made, at room temperature, with nothing more than a little oil.
Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. On the coast, the sea and the lemon take over. The large, fragrant lemons of Sorrento and Amalfi flavour everything from pasta to desserts, and limoncello, the lemon liqueur served ice-cold after dinner, is the souvenir of choice. Delizia al limone, a lemon-cream-filled sponge, is a coastal dessert classic. Seafood dominates menus: spaghetti with clams or with sea urchins, fresh catch baked in salt or cooked in acqua pazza, a light broth of tomato and herbs. Gnocchi alla sorrentina, baked with tomato and mozzarella, is Sorrento's signature. In Cetara, a fishing village on the coast, colatura di alici, an amber anchovy sauce descended from the Roman garum, dresses pasta. Up the hill in Agerola, the fiordilatte mozzarella and provolone are excellent, perfect for a picnic on the Path of the Gods.
How restaurants work. Lunch is usually from about one to three, dinner from about eight, later in summer. A cover charge per person (coperto) is common and legal; service may or may not be included. Many traditional trattorie are cash-friendly and small, so booking a day ahead helps at weekends. In the historic centre and near the sights, avoid places with touts outside and multilingual photo menus; walk a street or two away and look for where locals are eating. On the coast, especially in Positano in summer, book dinner ahead and expect high prices for the view.
Seasonal and festive tastes. Autumn brings chestnuts and mushrooms; winter brings the Christmas fish feasts of the Vigilia, struffoli and roccocò biscuits; spring brings fresh broad beans, artichokes and the Easter pastiera; summer brings tomatoes, aubergines in parmigiana and the best seafood. Whatever the season, the rule in Naples is simple: eat what is in front of you, eat it now, and order another.