Where Do Celebrities Eat And Stay On The Amalfi Coast?
Most articles on this subject repeat gossip. This one sticks to places with a documented record: who was actually there, when, and according to whom. It also corrects two of the claims that circulate most often.
Plan around places you can actually visit: public town walks, bookable restaurants and gardens with their own admission. No tour here promises celebrity sightings. Choose Your Experience Below.
This coast has been a celebrity destination for longer than the word existed. Wagner found the setting for an opera here in 1880, Greta Garbo hid here in 1938, and a first lady spent three weeks of 1962 being photographed on a Ravello terrace. What follows is the short version, restricted to the places where the record is clear.
Nerano is on the Sorrentine Peninsula; Capri needs an island day; Ravello and Positano fit a mainland visit. Restaurant reservations and hotel stays are separate from sightseeing tours. Explore the Positano, Amalfi and Ravello day tour from SorrentoExplore the Positano, Amalfi and Ravello day tour from Sorrento.
Where Did Stanley Tucci Eat On The Amalfi Coast?
Lo Scoglio, at Marina del Cantone in the hamlet of Nerano, where he ate spaghetti alla Nerano in the Campania episode of his food series. It is a family hotel and restaurant on the water, founded in 1958 by Tommaso De Simone and run today by the third generation of the family.
The dish is the point. Spaghetti alla Nerano is a plate of pasta with fried courgette, butter and cheese, invented in this small bay in the 1950s, and the television appearance turned it into one of the most copied recipes in Italian cooking. Lo Scoglio grows a good deal of what it serves on the family farm and lands the rest off the beach in front of the tables. Its own site is at hotelloscoglio.com.
One geographical correction, since almost every article gets it wrong: Nerano is on the southern tip of the Sorrentine Peninsula in the comune of Massa Lubrense, not on the Amalfi Coast proper. It is reached by road from Sorrento or by boat, and the boat is the pleasant way to do it.
Make the Lo Scoglio reservation directly before arranging your Nerano journey; a general coastal excursion does not promise that restaurant stop. Plan from the Sorrento side
What Is Bobby Flay'S Favourite Restaurant Here?
The same one. Flay has called Lo Scoglio his favourite place in the world, praising the shellfish coming straight out of the bay and the handmade pasta, and it was the inspiration for the Italian restaurant he opened in Las Vegas in 2021, which he named Amalfi after this stretch of coastline.
Two chefs of that profile independently naming the same small family restaurant is a stronger signal than any list. It also explains why the terrace at Marina del Cantone is now considerably harder to book than it was fifteen years ago. If you want to go, treat it as a reservation to make weeks ahead rather than a lunch you decide on that morning.
If Lo Scoglio is the reason for your visit, make the table your fixed point and fit transport around it. Recheck the Nerano location
Where Do Celebrities Eat On Capri?
Three restaurants carry most of the island's celebrity history: La Capannina, Aurora and Da Paolino. All three are still family-run, still open, and all three take reservations from anybody.
| Restaurant | Since | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| La Capannina, Via Le Botteghe | 1931, founded by Francesco De Angelis | Ravioli capresi and a guest list that included Jackie and Aristotle Onassis; now third and fourth generation |
| Aurora, Via Fuorlovado | Late nineteenth century, D'Alessio family | The island's oldest restaurant, and pizza all'acqua, created by Gennaro D'Alessio in the 1970s |
| Da Paolino | Restaurant licence obtained in the 1970s | Dining under a lemon grove; its guest book runs back to 1978 |
Capri's long-running visitor portal keeps a page on each of them, including La Capannina, which is the quickest way to check that a place is still trading before you plan an evening around it. Capri's advantage over the mainland is that the island empties every evening when the day boats leave, which is when its restaurants become the places the photographs suggest. The Faraglioni rocks and the harbour look entirely different once the crowd has gone. Reaching the island is straightforward from either side of the peninsula, and a shared boat day from Sorrento gets you there without the ferry queue.
Did The Kardashians Really Stay In Positano?
The event most often described as the Kardashian Amalfi Coast wedding did not happen on the Amalfi Coast. Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker married in Portofino, in Liguria, on 22 May 2022, with the reception at Castello Brown above the harbour. That is roughly 700 km north of Positano.
The family does have a documented history on this coast, though. Kim Kardashian's 2011 honeymoon was spent at Hotel Santa Caterina in Amalfi, a five-star property run by the Gambardella family since 1904, according to reporting by HELLO! and other travel press, which also links the hotel to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in the early days of their relationship. Those are reported stays rather than hotel-confirmed ones, and we present them that way.
Positano's own celebrity anchor is older and better documented. John Steinbeck stayed at Le Sirenuse for the essay he published in Harper's Bazaar in May 1953, which opens with the line "Positano bites deep" and describes the coast road as corkscrewing on the edge of nothing. The hotel has been trading on that sentence ever since, with some justification.
Choose Positano or Amalfi for your own stay’s logistics; reported celebrity visits do not establish hotel availability or a tour inclusion. Compare the mainland bases
Where Did Jackie Kennedy Stay On The Amalfi Coast?
Ravello, from 8 to 31 August 1962, at the Palazzo Episcopio, on a recommendation from the writer Gore Vidal. She travelled with her children Caroline and John Jr and her sister Lee Radziwill, and the three weeks of paparazzi coverage that followed turned a quiet hill town into an international destination.
Ravello has more of this history per square metre than anywhere else on the coast. Wagner visited Villa Rufolo on 26 May 1880 and declared that he had found the magic garden of Klingsor for the second act of Parsifal, a line now set in stone at the villa. Greta Garbo and the conductor Leopold Stokowski spent a heavily reported few weeks at Villa Cimbrone in 1938. And Gore Vidal himself owned La Rondinaia, the villa built on the cliff edge below Villa Cimbrone, from 1972 until the mid-2000s.
Ravello’s gardens and public square are a practical way into this history. Check individual opening hours and admission. Plan a Ravello visit
What Is Sophia Loren'S Connection To Sorrento?
Cinema rather than biography. Loren was born in Rome on 20 September 1934 and raised in Pozzuoli, west of Naples. Her link to Sorrento is the 1955 Dino Risi comedy released in English as Scandal in Sorrento, set and shot in the town, which did a great deal to fix its image abroad.
She also appears on the list of famous guests published by the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria, alongside Richard Wagner, Enrico Caruso, Marilyn Monroe and Luciano Pavarotti. The hotel has been run by the Fiorentino family since 1834 and keeps the suite where Caruso stayed in 1921 with its original furnishings, which is about as literal as a celebrity connection gets. Its history page is at excelsiorvittoria.com. There is more on the town itself in our Sorrento travel guide.
Pair the town’s film history with a walk around central Sorrento; historic hotel interiors are not part of an ordinary town visit. Build a Sorrento morning
Which Hotels Have The Longest Celebrity History?
| Hotel | Where | The documented connection |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria | Sorrento | Fiorentino family since 1834; Caruso's 1921 suite preserved |
| Bellevue Syrene | Sorrento | Open since 1820 on the foundations of a Roman villa; guests included Turgenev and Marguerite Yourcenar |
| Le Sirenuse | Positano | Where Steinbeck stayed for his 1953 Harper's Bazaar essay |
| Villa TreVille | Positano | Franco Zeffirelli's former home, a 16-room hotel since 2009 |
| Hotel Santa Caterina | Amalfi | Gambardella family since 1904; reported stays by Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Kardashian |
| Villa Cimbrone | Ravello | Garbo and Stokowski, 1938; the Terrace of Infinity |
Sorrento's Grand Hotel Ambasciatori belongs on any list of the town's clifftop properties as well, though we have not found a documented celebrity record for it and so make no claim about one.
Use these hotels as historical references, then compare the town, stair access and transport before choosing a room. Choose the right base
Can You Actually Eat And Stay Where They Did?
Almost all of it, yes. Lo Scoglio, La Capannina, Aurora and Da Paolino are public restaurants that take bookings. Le Sirenuse, Villa TreVille, Santa Caterina, the Excelsior Vittoria and Bellevue Syrene are hotels you can book. Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo are open to visitors. The barrier is availability and price, not access.
Book restaurants directly and arrange transport around the confirmed reservation. Several places in this guide are best appreciated from the water, but a general boat itinerary does not promise a particular restaurant stop. Public town views and squares can form a free walk; Villa Cimbrone’s gardens and Villa Rufolo require their own current admission and opening checks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did Stanley Tucci eat spaghetti alla Nerano?
At Lo Scoglio in Marina del Cantone, Nerano, a family hotel and restaurant founded in 1958 by Tommaso De Simone and run today by the third generation. The scene appeared in the Campania episode of his food series and made the dish internationally famous.
Did the Kardashians get married on the Amalfi Coast?
No. Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker married in Portofino, Liguria, on 22 May 2022, with the reception at Castello Brown. Portofino is around 700 km north of Positano. Kim Kardashian's 2011 honeymoon at Hotel Santa Caterina in Amalfi is the family's best-documented stay on this coast.
Where did Jackie Kennedy stay in Italy in 1962?
In Ravello, from 8 to 31 August 1962, at the Palazzo Episcopio, on the recommendation of Gore Vidal. She was there with her children and her sister Lee Radziwill, and the resulting press coverage put Ravello on the international map.
Which Capri restaurant do celebrities go to?
La Capannina on Via Le Botteghe has the longest record, open since 1931 and still run by the founding family, with past guests including Jackie and Aristotle Onassis. Aurora on Via Fuorlovado is the island's oldest restaurant, and Da Paolino is known for dining under its lemon grove.
Is Sophia Loren from Sorrento?
No. She was born in Rome in 1934 and raised in Pozzuoli near Naples. Her connection to Sorrento is the 1955 film released in English as Scandal in Sorrento, which was set and shot in the town.
