Tucked inside the former ducal palace of the Piccolomini family, La Caravella has stood at the center of Amalfi’s cultural and culinary life for more than six decades. The 12th century palace, carefully restored over nearly fifteen years, remains similar to its 1959 opening, when the Dipino family transformed Southern Italian dining.
With just ten tables, La Caravella became the first restaurant in Southern Italy to earn a Michelin star and is now among the longest continuously Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy. Its history runs parallel to the rise of gastronomic tourism along the Amalfi Coast, drawing artists, writers and cultural figures who came to experience the region through its food.
Long before its claim to fine dining, La Caravella embraced the relationship between restaurant, wine, and art. Today, the space also functions as a restaurant museum, housing a private collection of works by celebrated Amalfi Coast artists.
Guests dine beneath restored frescoed ceilings, surrounded by paintings and sculptures that reflect the region’s creative heritage. The wine cellar, located in a historic cambusa, is considered an important private collection in Italy, while spaces like the Andy Warhol Lounge speak to the restaurant’s long connection to the international art world.
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Today, the kitchen continues under the care of the Dipino family, with Chef Antonio Dipino carrying forward a philosophy shaped by years of memories and family dedication.
To understand how La Caravella balances history with daily cooking, Appetito Magazine talked with Chef Antonio Dipino about ingredients, tradition and what defines the restaurant today.
Which ingredients of the Amalfi Coast inspire you most when creating a menu?
The Amalfi Coast offers us the very best of everything we need: lemons, wild herbs, bluefish, extra virgin olive oil, fresh cheeses, and fish caught in our own sea.
How do you decide what is right to serve in each season?
The menu changes every day, depending on what the fishermen bring in and what the farmers harvest.
How do you honor tradition while keeping your cuisine contemporary?
Our menu, and especially our tasting menus, is a blend of ancient and modern: memorable dishes that have crossed decades, enriched with subtle evolutions and improvements year after year, without ever bending to trends.
What role does fish play in defining your menus?
Fish is central. From raw fish preparations to classic dishes and the most recent innovative creations, modern cuisine, but always prepared strictly with ingredients from the Amalfi Coast.
Is there a dish at La Caravella that best represents your approach to cooking?
There are many dishes, but the legendary one is Sole nel Piatto, The Sun on the Plate, Mamma Anna’s signature and the historic dish of La Caravella: the Amalfi lemon soufflé. In 1959, while preparing for the opening of the restaurant, Mamma Anna made a mistake in her first attempt. She forgot to add flour, as required by the classic recipe. From that mistake came success, and today it is considered one of the masterpieces of Italian pastry.
The dessert is dedicated to Salvatore Quasimodo, Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1959. A friend of my father, the Maestro’s face would light up at the sight of that “cloud,” as he poetically described it, and he repeatedly suggested calling it Sole nel Piatto. Today, we are among the very few restaurants in the world with the privilege of serving a dish named by a Nobel Prize winner.
How do you think about simplicity when working with high quality ingredients?
Our goal is to transform our raw ingredients in the simplest way possible. Simplicity is the hardest goal to achieve in the kitchen.
Is there a dish you hope every guest orders on their first visit?
After more than 60 years, it’s hard to choose. There are many historic dishes, all present on our menu, revisited, yet grounded in medieval cuisine.
How does the history of La Caravella influence the way you cook today?
Since July 2, 1959, from our very first steps, nothing has changed. Every step has reinforced our promise: only the very best of the flavors of the Amalfi Coast, unique and inimitable.
How do family memories or traditions emerge in your cuisine today?
Through details. Our Restaurant Museum tells the story of our ongoing research and of my family, guardians of the great culinary tradition of the Amalfi Coast.
Which ingredient do you feel most connected to, and why?
Lemon, bluefish, and seasonal vegetables. They are the synthesis of our land and our sea.
What do you want guests to remember most about their experience at La Caravella?
Beyond our cuisine, the uniqueness of the place. It’s not every day that one dines or lunches in a museum. And above all, the great attention to our guests, so they can truly feel at home.
What would you like Appetito readers to know about La Caravella?
The menu celebrating our first 60 years: the synthesis of our cuisine. A unique and limited edition, only 60 menus per month, to celebrate six decades of history, passion, and flavor. Dinner is served with a tasting menu, a surprise from our Chef.
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