The Taverna del Capitano stands where the road ends at Marina del Cantone. It is a Michelin-starred restaurant, a small hotel, and — near the entrance, in the room called Casa Caputo — a traditional trattoria.
The interesting part is not the star. It is that this bay exists as it does because of the family cooking in it. Without the Caputo family, Marina del Cantone would still belong to the fishermen.
In the early 1900s Alfonso Caputo — the grandfather — ran the village’s only grocery. Times were hard, and he emigrated to Argentina. He made money there, came back, and spent it on the things the village needed: an olive press, a wood-fired oven, an electricity supply.
He believed this bay, then used only by fishermen, had a future. He bought an old building with a thirteenth-century charterhouse attached and turned it into a guesthouse with a restaurant, where his ten children could work. The critic Luigi Veronelli wrote that the fortune of Marina del Cantone is owed, in large part, to the Caputo family. He was right.
The cooking is of the sea, tied to the bay’s fishermen. And spaghetti alla Nerano is served as a pre-dessert — both a small impertinence and a statement of belonging.
Grandson of the first Alfonso, he took his star in 1996 at twenty-six. He had begun cooking in 1989 under Gualtiero Marchesi.
His sister is the sommelier — once the leading sommelier in Campania, and a national finalist in 1994.
A rooftop with an open kitchen, looking down on the beach. Reached by staircase or panoramic lift. Twenty-five to thirty covers, a serious wine list.
The Michelin-starred table on the rooftop. Cooking of the sea, tied to the bay’s fishermen — one dish, a moray eel soup, has become a classic.
The room by the entrance serves traditional trattoria cooking. This is the cheaper option, if you want one.
A small boutique hotel occupies the same building — the old guesthouse the first Caputo built, with a thirteenth-century charterhouse attached.
Yes. The restaurant records a first star in 1996 and a second in 2006; the Michelin Guide currently lists one.
Alfonso Caputo, who earned his first star at twenty-six and trained under Gualtiero Marchesi.
Yes. Casa Caputo, the room by the entrance, serves traditional cooking.
Yes.
No. It was invented at Maria Grazia in the 1950s. Here it arrives as a pre-dessert.
The number of stars differs between the restaurant’s own site and the Michelin Guide, and the page reports both rather than resolve it. Whether the second star was retained or lost, and when, is unconfirmed; the dating of the charterhouse and current prices should be checked too. Prices and seasons change — contact the restaurant directly before you set out.