1885
The song
Salvatore Di Giacomo and Francesco Paolo Tosti compose “Marechiare”: the bay enters legend, its rocks become verse.
Our story
Eighty yearson the rocksof Marechiaro.
Marechiaro · Naples · since 1942 Chapter I
A bay turned into song
Trattoria Cicciotto was born in 1942 in one of the most enchanting spots in Naples, on the shores of the bay of Marechiaro, beloved by the ancient Romans and immortalised by famous songs — none more so than that of Salvatore Di Giacomo and Francesco Paolo Tosti.
Enchanted and intoxicated by the sea breeze and the flavours offered in this delightful corner blessed by Dionysus, guests have found happiness here for over seventy years — the wisdom of a life free of frenzy, saturated with joyful and restorative moments.
Quanno spónta la luna a Marechiare,pure li pisce nce fanno a ll'ammore…Se revòtano ll'onne de lu mare,pe’ la priezza cágnano culore…
“Marechiare” — Salvatore Di Giacomo · Francesco Paolo Tosti, 1885 Chapter II
Vincenzo, known as Cicciotto
Its warm name echoes the imposing, rotund figure of its founder Vincenzo Capuano, who — drawn by the poetry emanating from this suggestive place — devoted himself to cooking and marine specialities with the same love that poets and musicians poured into their verses and melodies about this paradisiacal setting.
Chapter III
The voice of Cicciotto
People never come to Cicciotto just to eat. Between courses, Giovanni — the founder's son, now eighty-six years old — crosses the dining room and starts to sing: the songs of Naples, the ones about the moon, the sea and love, a few metres from the rocks that inspired them.
He no longer works, but he is always there; every now and then his voice rises among the tables, to the delight of regulars and travellers alike. It is never a performance: it is the house's way of saying welcome, a tradition still very much alive.
Chapter IV
From father to son
1942
The founding
Vincenzo Capuano, known as Cicciotto, opens the trattoria on the shores of the bay. A few tables, the catch of the day, the sea one step away.
the ’60s
The post-war years
Neapolitans and travellers make their way down to the bay for the cuisine of the sea — and come back for the atmosphere. The trattoria grows without changing its soul.
Today
The third generation
Now more than eighty years old, the restaurant is in the careful hands of the heirs Gianluca and Vincenzo.
Chapter V
The table
Raw or grilled fish, seafood, inimitable fritters, octopus soppressate, alongside indescribable specialities like Schiaffoni with lobster and Linguine with crab — at Cicciotto they carry the unimaginable taste of the sea, and above all, like sweets, leave in the mouth that timeless and deeply human poetry whose verses lead to a life rich in pleasure, untouched and without stress.
— the Capuano family, third generation