There is a seaside trattoria in Marina del Cantone, the beach of Nerano (in Campania), built under the auspices of the 17th-century chapel of Saint Anthony of Padua, with which it shares its walls. Towards the end of the 19th century, that small strip of pebbled beach served as a landing point and a place of rest for fishermen who docked their boats there in search of nourishment and respite. Cooking for them — and for her husband, also a fisherman — was Signora Maria Grazia, who prepared simple, wholesome, no-frills meals to feed the sea workers.

The trattoria thrived and, in the 1950s, became a family business: “At a certain point, my grandmother Rosa, daughter of Maria Grazia, took the reins of the place. The trattoria, with four tables and a terrace overlooking the sea, became a favourite especially among nobles who, holidaying in Capri, would reach Marina del Cantone beach with their rowing boats,” says Rosa Andreone, the fourth generation of Maria Grazia’s family and her great-granddaughter.