O’Parrucchiano restaurant Sorrento: home of cannelloni since 1868
Ristorante ’o Parrucchiano La Favorita in Sorrento: a Historic Place of Italy on Corso Italia since 1868, with lemon gardens and the cannelloni invented here.
The story of Ristorante ’o Parrucchiano La Favorita begins in 1868. Antonino Ercolano, a seminarian who had learned to cook in the kitchens of the archbishop’s seminary, turned two small rooms on Corso Italia into a modest trattoria and named it “La Favorita”. He never became a priest, yet the friends who filled his tables affectionately called him “’o Parrucchiano”, Neapolitan for the parish priest. The nickname has stayed with the restaurant ever since.
In the 1940s Antonino, who had no heirs, left the trattoria to his young nephew Giuseppe Manniello, raised like a son and trained at the stove. Giuseppe relaunched the place and made it famous around the world. Today the restaurant is run by his son Enzo Manniello, while Giuseppe Junior and Mario are getting ready to carry on a legacy now four generations long. ’O Parrucchiano belongs to the Associazione Locali Storici d’Italia, and as its website recalls, hardly a name from art, culture, entertainment or sport has passed through Sorrento without stopping here.
The most famous dish on the menu is cannelloni, invented here more than a hundred years ago under their original name, “strascinati”. Alongside them come gnocchi alla sorrentina and a long list of dishes built on the scents of the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Naples. The kitchen has been in the same hands for more than fifty years, and some of the vegetables come from the kitchen garden in the Secret Garden, among lemon trees and flowers.
You will find the restaurant at Corso Italia 71, in the heart of the old town, a few steps from the Cathedral, the ancient Greek gate of Parsano and the sixteenth-century city walls. Guests dine in bright rooms opening onto greenery, in an intimate room with an old wooden staircase and family amphorae, or outdoors under the pergola, beneath thousands of tiny lights and the shade of citrus trees.
For guests of the Grand Hotel Europa Palace, which becomes a 5-star hotel from March 2027, this is a dinner worth having at least once. Both addresses are in central Sorrento, and a stroll along the Corso leads to the lemon grove. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner and takes bookings by phone only, on +39 081 8781321, from 9:30 am to 6 pm. History, dining rooms and menu are at https://www.parrucchiano.com.
In the 1940s Antonino, who had no heirs, left the trattoria to his young nephew Giuseppe Manniello, raised like a son and trained at the stove. Giuseppe relaunched the place and made it famous around the world. Today the restaurant is run by his son Enzo Manniello, while Giuseppe Junior and Mario are getting ready to carry on a legacy now four generations long. ’O Parrucchiano belongs to the Associazione Locali Storici d’Italia, and as its website recalls, hardly a name from art, culture, entertainment or sport has passed through Sorrento without stopping here.
The most famous dish on the menu is cannelloni, invented here more than a hundred years ago under their original name, “strascinati”. Alongside them come gnocchi alla sorrentina and a long list of dishes built on the scents of the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Naples. The kitchen has been in the same hands for more than fifty years, and some of the vegetables come from the kitchen garden in the Secret Garden, among lemon trees and flowers.
You will find the restaurant at Corso Italia 71, in the heart of the old town, a few steps from the Cathedral, the ancient Greek gate of Parsano and the sixteenth-century city walls. Guests dine in bright rooms opening onto greenery, in an intimate room with an old wooden staircase and family amphorae, or outdoors under the pergola, beneath thousands of tiny lights and the shade of citrus trees.
For guests of the Grand Hotel Europa Palace, which becomes a 5-star hotel from March 2027, this is a dinner worth having at least once. Both addresses are in central Sorrento, and a stroll along the Corso leads to the lemon grove. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner and takes bookings by phone only, on +39 081 8781321, from 9:30 am to 6 pm. History, dining rooms and menu are at https://www.parrucchiano.com.
