Alfonso Iaccarino

It is in a part of Campania which has fascinated peoples and cultures for millennia that we can find one of the longest-lived emblems of fine Italian cuisine: Alfonso Iaccarino’s Don Alfonso 1890. 

Gastronomy and Wine Cuisine

The Greeks founded their first colonies here, the Romans fell in love with the place, the Arabs brought to it their refined traditions and a whole range of new products, contributing to the mixture of cultures to which these lands would continue to be exposed, between the rule of great German emperors and the opulence of the Bourbons: it was here, in 1973, that Alfonso Iaccarino decided to open his Don Alfonso 1890 at Sant’Agata sui Due Golfi, in the heart of the Sorrentine peninsula. Paying homage, with this date, to the grandfather who had initiated him into the cult of good Mediterranean food. The sunshine that drenches the cliffs rising sheer above the sea on the Amalfi Coast seems also to reflect the cooking of this great chef, who for over 40 years has been revealing the wonderful materials of this region to the world. Friend, confidant and partner in research of Ansel Keys, father and discoverer of the Mediterranean diet, Iaccarino has turned his Don Alfonso into something more than just a restaurant.

It has become a crossroads, where the professionalism of this master, and today the whole of his family too, intersects with a capacity to innovate while respecting tradition. The aim? Showing to the world the culture and the values of a gastronomic kaleidoscope with a myriad facets of aroma and flavour. For Alfonso Iaccarino the food that becomes the heritage of a land is as much an expression of it as is a monument or a representative work of architecture. The locus amoenus of the Don Alfonso is one of the finest temples of the region’s scenic and gastronomic glories, representing the Mediterranean spirit of Italy and the hospitable warmth of the Neapolitan people. Today Alfonso Iaccarino, together with his wife Livia and their sons Ernesto and Mario, have opened a series of branches around the world: in Canada, New Zealand, Macao and the United States. The desire to hand down his expertise has never left him, and neither has the inexhaustible passion for his land that drives this great Master of Arts and Crafts.

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