«Like Formula Uno» says Ernesto Iaccarino. Indeed. A good engine is by itself no guarantee of victory; you also need a light and resistant framework, a well-designed aerodynamic structure, perfect pneumatics and breaks. The same applies to the restaurant industry, a complex system in which uniqueness is not enough to express great cuisine, unless you also have a competent maître, a well prepared sommelier, an attentive and scrupulous service, kindness, patience, psychology and a careful division of tasks and spaces.
It is thanks to this “gear” that Don Alfonso 1890 is considered one of the best luxury restaurants in the world. The concrete and intellectual cuisine of chef Ernesto Iaccarino together with the dining room service, coordinated by his mother Livia and his brother Mario, stands out thanks to precision, elegance and preparation through immediate almost spontaneous gestures. They look as natural as breathing or blinking.
In Sant’Agata sui due Golfi, a hamlet of Massa Lubrense (Naples) with 3000 inhabitants, 400 metres above the sea of Sorrento’s peninsula, named after its fortunate position between the Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno, Don Alfonso 1890 was established in 1973 thanks to an intuition of Alfonso Iaccarino, husband of Livia and Ernesto’s and Mario’s father. He was the one to transform the hotel established by his grandfather Alfonso in 1890 into a restaurant.
Part of the Relais & Châteaux network and rewarded with two Michelin stars since 1990, today Don Alfonso 1890 is one of the sacred temples of Italian fine dining, fully promoted thanks to the impeccable professionality of a family who’s been in this business for over a century. It’s a beautiful reality that was born thanks to the visionary and farsighted intuition of Alfonso, who first had the idea and made the choice of taking the route of excellence and luxury, and thanks to the abnegation and love of Livia, tireless host and a star in terms of hospitality and smiling attitude.
This dream continues thanks to the masterful daily organisation of Mario, who trained in the best catering schools in Switzerland and is always ready to tell, in as many as seven different languages, the essence and philosophy of the only 3-star hotel in southern Italy between 1997 and 2001. And thanks to the flair of Ernesto, creative and intelligent chef, always up to date (and perhaps even ahead of his times), a lover of different influences, and passionate supporter of the unmatchable virtues of Mediterranean cuisine and its ingredients, capable of making the best use of love and technique in each dish. Hospitality, at Don Alfonso 1890, is about the pleasure of welcoming, connecting with people, feeling emotions. It’s about innovation, identity, and territory. Hospitality, conviviality and real relationships… Could there be more human factor?