ristorazione — Capri · Campania
At Marina Grande, where the ferries dock and the life of the port has moved to an old rhythm forever, the Grotta Azzurra Café has presided over Piazza Vittoria since 1870. A story that has passed through fishermen, travellers and generations of owners, always with the same open outlook onto the sea.
Opened around 1870 by Luigi Orrigo as a tavern for the fishermen of the port, the place changed shape in the early years of the twentieth century when Andrea Nastri turned it into a bar. Generation after generation — Gennaro, then Luciano in 1972, then his daughter Irma with her husband Adelmo — the same sign has kept watch over the identity of Marina Grande, never once closing its doors on the sea.
In the morning the counter is the centre of everything: cornetti (Italian croissants) fresh from the oven displayed in the glass case, the coffee machine warming the light of the early hour. It is the quintessential Capri ritual — one the locals have always known and visitors discover with delight, perched on a stool as the port begins to stir and the island slowly wakes.
The day stretches on with brunch and closes — as the low light tints the gulf orange — with sunset aperitivo: cocktails and finger food prepared by the kitchen as the port empties of ferries and fills with those who have chosen to stay on the island a little longer. The rhythm of the bar follows that of the island.
From the tables facing the harbour — the same view immortalised by Sofia Loren on the set of 'La Baia di Napoli' — Capri reveals itself in its truest light.
