Dining is the experience in Italy

April 20, 2015

Dining is the experience in Italy - Sorrento

There was an article in the Denver Post a year ago or so by Rick Steves entitled something like "In Italy, Dining is the Experience" - it was basically lifted from his Italy travel guide. Well, we definitely found that phrase to basically be true. Italians know how to cook and how to eat - we Americans have mastered fast food, Italians have mastered the art of dining as an experience. There may be chains in Italy, but I didn't notice them. This is the land of the locally owned, often family run restorante.

I bring this up now, as Sorrento was the location of perhaps my favorite meal experience in Italy (and there were many vying for this title, believe me - many of which I will comment on in future posts). We stayed at another great b and b - Villa Monica (more on that later) about two miles outside of Sorrento. Donna overheard one of our fellow guests talking about a great restaurant they had gone to, where the staff from the restaurant came and picked them up at the b and b, and after dinner drove them back - and they raved about the food. So Donna had me call up Pasquale (our b and b host) while we were out and about and make a reservation for our second of three nights in Sorrento.

That night there were three couples from the b and b going to the restaurant; Donna and me; Bev and Vaughn, an English couple about our age, and Steve and Sarah, an English couple younger than our kids (Steve was an aspiring musician, age 20, Sarah was an aspiring actress, age 21). So at 8 PM, the staff from the restaurant drives over in two cars, and we all pile in, and off we go (maybe five miles as a guess) to the family owned restaurant. I had ravioli stuffed with crab, with clams and a lemon sauce that ranks as one of the best entrees I have ever had (picture included). We all sat at different tables, but following dinner, Vaughn bought two half liters of wine, and we all gathered at their table and swapped stories until 10:30, when the staff drove us back to the b and b (the chef drove our car on the way back). The whole experience was fantastic, and one of our many memorable times in Italy. I'll return to the eating theme again, but dining was one of many highlights of our time in Italy.

Our b and b was great too, and Pasquale was probably our most entertaining host. His b and b was located about two miles from the city center and straight up a large hill - so challenging for folks like us without a car (and many of his guests do not have a car), so Pasquale has solved this problem by running a shuttle about every two hours between his b and b and the city center. This worked very well. Pasquale also offers free wine, but charges 1 Euro for bottled water. (Only in Italy!) We actually never had any of his free wine, since we had wine with dinner and by the time we got back we didn't feel like any more wine. Pasquale was a talker "So hey guys, what are we going to do today - Pompeii, ok, I print out a train schedule for you" He was a lot of fun, and very helpful too. The b and b had fabulous views too (see photos). While here we toured the Amalfi coast and visited Pompeii (subject of next posts).

So a few photos to share.