7 Best Restaurants in Sorrento and the Sorrentine Peninsula, Italy

Run with enthusiasm and love by two young Sorrentine women, this small rustic-styled bakery and bistro makes generously filled panini using fresh ingredients on ciabatta and panuozzo pizza-dough bread. It's also a fab spot to linger with some local wine and a cheese platter.

Overlooking rows of olive trees that seem to run into the sea, this superb eatery established in 1909 is away from the throng, halfway between Sant'Agata and Massa Lubrense. Two huge, beamed dining rooms with brick archways, old chandeliers, antique mirrored sideboards, hundreds of mounted plates, and tangerine tablecloths make for an atmospheric place to dine.

A gastronomic giant and pioneer in upscale farm-to-table cuisine (it even grows its own produce on a small farm nearby), Don Alfonso is considered one of Italy's best restaurants. It's a family affair, with Mamma (Livia) handling the dining room, Papà (former chef Alfonso Iaccarrino) tending to the organic plot, one son working as the current chef (preparing classic dishes alongside edgier creations), and the other serving as maître d'. For an extra splurge you can stay at their self-styled boutique hotel with a range of vibrantly decorated rooms and a heated pool. 

A popular gelateria run by a young couple offering lots of fresh house-made gelato flavors as well as interesting bubble tea options, granita, frappé, frullati, fresh fruit cups, and crepes.

With its sparkling spiaggia views and seafood freshly caught by local pescatori, it's hard not to be lured by the siren charms of this prime place in Marina di Cantone. Expect lots of grilled fish, platefuls of small-bite antipasti di casa, and possibly the creamiest spaghetti alla Nerano on the planet.

At this informal, waterside restaurant and snack bar, you won't see many locals—they're unlikely to be impressed by the four-language menus—but the seafood platters are fresh and flavorful, and you can eat alfresco in the sunshine or inside a glass-enclosed dining area with a nautical motif. You can even go for a swim. For a special-occasion splurge, consider renting out their luxury resort next door, Villa del Maggiore, replete with pool, terraces, and direct private access to the sea.

Seafood classics, including tartara di pescato del giorno (raw catch-of-the-day antipasto) and linguine with riccio (sea urchin), are tweaked creatively here. The staff is warm and helpful, the singer on the sound system is the long-departed "fourth tenor" himself, and the operatic memorabilia (including posters and old photos of Caruso) and subtle lighting add to the atmosphere.