Sorrento’s cuisine is cheerful and bright, with simple dishes, rich with imagination.
Above all, the specialties are dominated by pizza and pasta, which in all their varieties have become the most consumed dish. The most cooked dish is pasta with a tomato and mozzarella sauce, but no less popular are sauces which incorporate vegetables, meat and fish. Following these are gnocchi alla sorrentina (Sorrentine style gnocchi), ravioli alla caprese (caprese ravioli) and scialatielli ai frutti di mare (seafood scialatielli).
The second course is excelled by the preparation of fish; from cod to soup, to polipetti alla impepata di cozze (baby octopus with peppered mussels). Also the side dishes, the antipasti, are by no means any less scrumptious, like the parmigiana di melanzane (eggplant parmigiana), l’insalata caprese (caprese salad) and marinated anchovies.
Finally, the deserts are extraordinary, with Sorrento’s true art of pastry making recognised in all of Italy.
From the Baba, a soft cake soaked in rum, to the celebrated pastiera napoletana and the sfogliatelle. Not to forget, are the Struffoli and the zeppole, which are fried and garnished with colorful confetti.
To conclude the meal with a flourish: a grappa or a liqueur like the famous Limoncello of Sorrento.
