Cooking On Capri™

Tie on your aprons with Chef Salvatore and his family on Capri.  Chef Salvatore welcomes you to his kitchen for hands-on cooking creating healthy local cuisine prepared with seasonal products and garden fresh organic fruits and vegetable from his garden.  Learn how to prepare Neapolitan classics such as zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese, hand made ravioli Caprese, local fish and and torta Caprese!

Step into his Mediterranean kitchen set in a garden and learn how to cook like a Neapolitan.  Using farm-to-table produce and organic ingredients, Chef Salvatore prepares classic recipes with a creative touch.  He also uses many products from the family-owned farm in Basilicata – including farm-raised meat and poultry.  An expansive wine cellar with over 3000 wine bottles will have you sipping and swirling while learning about fine Italian wines.

Chef Salvatore offers traditional cooking classes with a touch of his own his own creativity. After starting his career on Capri with his father who was also a chef, he gained international experience working with award-winning Michelin-star chefs, then returned to Capri. His technique and approach to using farm-to-table ingredients are unsurpassed. The result is beautiful food and high end wine from the family’s cellar to make every cooking class a one-of-a-kind experience!

As featured in September 2010 – Click here to read more!

Cooking Classes in Capri

Chef Salvatore leads you in the kitchen preparing Neapolitan recipes that changes with the seasons. You’ll roll out ravioli Capresi, and prepare pesce al limone and torta caprese in an authentic hands-on experience featuring the cuisine of Capri.  Special menu requests including gluten free,, vegetarian and lactose-free are available.

He starts out each day with a visit to his garden where he picks fresh fruits and vegetables.  Then, Signor Paolo arrives, the local fisherman who delivers his fresh catches of the day.  Our Chef prepaes artisan breads daily – crusty loaves stuffed with black olives or cheese and sweet brioche.

In each cooking class you will prepare antipasti, fresh hand-made pasta and seasonal sauces, ravioli Caprese and risotto with artichokes, seafood or pumpkin.  Main course and dessert follow including torta Caprese, torta Anacaprese, limon tiramisu or profiteroles.  Following the cooking class, everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the class with wine included.

At sunrise he is in the garden picking fresh mint, rosemary and giant yellow zucchini flowers. His Mediterranean garden is brimming with spring peas to zucchini, pumpkin and eggplant, black cherries, oranges and lemons. “What’s grows in our garden is used in our kitchen and enjoyed on our table!”  Chef Salvatore has won many accolades during his culinary travels.  After returning to Capri following  international experience, he shares his technique and recipes with you!!!  “I don’t measure, I use my eyes, except in dessert making where precision is important,” he  explains in Neapolitan dialect.

The Island of Capri

Capri the magical island located in the Bay of Naples – just 20 minutes from Positano and Sorrento has attracted kings and queens, diplomats, movie stars and even pirates, for centuries.

While on Capri, visit Tiberius’ villas, the Blue Grotto, Villa San Michele, Certosa, and many artisan shops, galleries and the natural flower path. This Mediterranean island has mystified great artists, writers and poets, and continues to attract visitors from around the globe. The island’s diverse landscape – jutting cliffs rising from the sea, to the highest point of Anacapri, makes Capri a dream place.

There is also the Blue Grotto, often called the Eighth Wonder of the World which will mesmerise.  The Blue Grotto has a special cavern entrance where the sunlight reflects through the water in the cave, tingeing it a dramatic cerulean shade of blue. Capri is Italy’s most popular and glamorous seaside island – and is just twenty minutes away from Positano or Sorrento.  Piazza Umberto, known as la piazzetta, is perched high above the sea and offers a panoramic view of the Bay of Naples. During the week, you will tour the island visiting hidden treasures, secret addresses and Anacapri-the highest point on the island. Capri, the magical island, named after the wild capre, translating to mountain goats, who exist on its rocky cliffs.

Capri In Bloom

Capri’s flowers and aromatic herbs have been used for centuries to make perfumes and liqueurs. While on the island, we suggest a self-guided flower walk to experience the island in bloom. Capri’s famous perfumes were made from the many varieties of wild flowers, plants and herbs that scent the island.  You may also visit the Piazza Vittoria in Anacapri and Villa San Michele – two important landmarks.  Walk along Via Monte Solaro, pass the scented pines and follow the path to Monte Cappello arriving at an iron cross. The flowers along the way include ginestra, a thistle type bright colored broom, orchids in hues of magenta along with violet daisies sprouting along the way. At the cross, bear left to continue up to Monte Santa Maria A. Cetrella, a small church built in the 14th century which was the sanctuary of seamen who visited and prayed there before setting out long sea journeys. From the church descend again to the iron cross and turn left to follow a different path back to the center of Anacapri. This walk takes about 2 hours – take time to enjoy the beauty and fragrances of the natural flowers and trees.

Capri Accommodations

Choose from our charming 3-star hotel or 4 star deluxe luxury property depending on your taste.

The 4 star deluxe property is set on the quiet side of Marina Piccola overlooking the sea and surrounded by a lush green garden with exotic flowers.  A professional and well-appointed staff are at your service with VIP treatment during your stay.  Oversized bedrooms brimming with lots of light and decorated in white include private en-suite bathroom, ample balconies spilling out onto the view of the sea, (or garden) air conditioning, a mini bar, satellite TV, complimentary wi-fi internet, an outdoor swimming pool and outdoor café restaurant bar.  There is also a gym and Turkish bath.

Modern decor respecting classic Mediterranean architecture – exudes the Capri atmosphere – white columns, arches and vaults with pleasant artwork and a beautiful flower garden surround the property.  Each morning starts with an Italian breakfast buffet – cappuccino, espresso, Italian cornetti, homemade cakes, torta Caprese, artisan bread, fresh fruits, local cheese and ham, yogurt, farm-raised eggs any style and cereals.  The outdoor café serves summer lunches, salads, pasta, panini, wine, Prosecco and cocktails along with poolside snacks. This 4 star luxury property is steps from the main square.

The 3 star property is owned by Signora and Signor, a notable family on  Capri.  You are welcomed by the family in true Italian hospitality.  Enter the property and step into the lush outdoor sitting areas surrounded by bougainvillea, then high vaulted ceilings and into the reception area.  Bright, white and clean with large windows overlooking either the town, the sea or garden with balconies to enjoy the Capri air.  Each room offers comfortable bedding, fine linens, ensuite private bathrooms and air conditioning.  Breakfast is served daily.  Maid service is provided daily too.

The professional friendly staff is on hand 24/7 to answer questions and help you with all your needs.

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Cooking Classes in Capri Itinerary: 5 days, 4 nights

Day 1: Benvenuti & Welcome Dinner

• Welcome to Capri.  Check in and relax.
• Chef’s Welcome Dinner including a traditional full course menu featuring Caprese fare – antipasto, fresh hand-made pasta, a main course and dessert.  Menus vary and include:  insalata di mare, grilled octopus marinated in lemon juice and herbs; ravioli capresi, handmade pasta, rolled then stuffed with fresh ricotta cheese;  pezzogna all’acqua pazza, local white fish in ‘crazy water’with red chilli pepper and ripe red cherry tomatoes – to name a few.
• Traditional desserts include the famous Capresecake, a flourless chocolate and almond flour cake garnished with powdered sugar along with pastiera Napoletana, a traditional ricotta cheese cake scented with orange flower and citrus.  If you love sfusato lemons, the secret ingredient in making torta al limone, the flourless lemon cake and limoncello!!!

Day 2: Capri Island Tour By Land & Cooking Class 1

• Breakfast is served.
• Meet your driver for a morning island tour in one of Capri’s famous canopy-covered convertibles.  Your driver will take you to important island addresses and share local stories too.  Learn the story of the Madonna set in the cliff – peeking out of the grotto and protecting the fisherman until they safely Marvel at the winding Phoenician stairs, over 700 of them, that connect the port in Marina Grande to Anacapri.  Learn the ancient story of Emperor Tiberius and the12 imperial villas that he built here.  Discover Capri’s place as a literary haven for famous writers from all over the world.  Visit the site of Villa Michele – home of Axel Munthe and learn about Norman Douglas, Paolo Neruda and Oscar Wilde – where they lived and where they wrote their novels.
• You will have time to explore the area and lunch on your own.
• In the afternoon tie on your aprons for your  hands-on Cooking Class 1. Start by using the freshest fruits and vegetables from Salvatore’s garden and begin creating your complete 4-course dinner. Depending on the season, your ingredients will include, fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden and the daily catch (meat and vegetarian items always available too). Learn the tricks to simple and delicious cooking focusing on the quality of the ingredients and natural flavors.  We begin with an antipastisuch as the fresh cherry tomato, bruschetta on toasted bread then knead, roll, cut and shape hand-made  Prepare locally caught pezzogna, orata and jumbo shrimp.  Dessert making is an art and here you will learn how to create the Caprese cake.
• Lunch or diinner follows and includes the food that was prepared in the cooking A toast of wine included.

Day 3: Capri Food Lover’s Tour with English-Speaking Guide & Cooking Class 2

• Breakfast is served.
• In the morning, meet Annarita our English-speaking local guide for our Food Lover’s Tour. Begin a fun-filled and interesting tour that will introduce you to local shopkeepers and artisans who make homemade sfogliatelle, pizza fritta, arancini, torte di limone, taralli, calzoni, breads, salumi, cheese, pasta, the Caprese-Capri cake, and the local wine of the island.  Learn about the historical foods, how they are prepared and their importance in the Mediterranean diet.  You’ll tour and taste your way through small streets lined with typical shops and passionate Italians that keep food traditions alive.  Tastings included.
• You can also add on a landmark tour with Annarita and learn about Capri and Anacapri.  Choose from Villa Jovis and Via Krupp, the Phoenician Stairs, to the small enchanting streets of Anacapri, and continue through the alleyways of Anacapri, where you will discover the Chiesa San Michele. This church is home to Europe’s most applauded mosaic floor. The mosaic work of art depicts Paradise on Earth: the Expulsion of Adam and Eve, painted by Leonardo Chiaese in 1761.  The mythical artwork in the floor is viewed from a boardwalk that runs around the edge of the chapel.  Visitors can climb to the second level, reachable by a spiral staircase.
• Enjoy lunch on your own in Anacapri.
• In the afternoon, head into the kitchen with Chef Salvatore for your Cooking Class 2 – preparing a full course Caprese fare.
• Lunch or dinner follows and everyone enjoys the foods that were prepared in class with a toast of wine included.

Day 4: Capri By Sea & Cooking Class 3

• Breakfast is served.
• Enjoy a morning boat tour with our sea captain who will take you around the island of Capri.  Sail slowly around the island admiring the jagged coastline with landmark stops along the way, stop for a swim, soak in the sun and sail by the Faraglioni, Punta Carena, the Blue Grotto and Marina Piccola.  Weather and tides permitting, visit the Grotta Azzurra, the Blue Grotto, where you will slip into a small rowboat and enter while listening to the serenading boatmen.  The glistening inside pf the Blue Grotto offers unparalleled beauty and was the Emperor Tiberius’ favorite place to swim.  The Blue Grotto is a museum and tickets are not included in the tour, but sold on site when entering.
• Lunch on your own.
• In the afternoon, tie on your aprons and head into the kitchen for cooking class 3.  After class, everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with a toast of wine included.

Day 5: Arrivederci Capri!

• Breakfast is served.
• Check out and departure. Arrivederci!