Showcasing the incredible cooking of Ernesto Iaccarino and the wonderful fresh flavours of the Amalfi coast, Don Alfonso 1890 has been a family-owned business since the nineteenth century. Based in the picturesque town of Sant Agata, where the Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno meet, the building sits high above sea level, boasting spectacular views out onto the ocean.

Since 1986, the kitchen has used produce from its own dedicated farm called Le Peracciole, just a few miles away along the coast facing the island of Capri. Ernesto’s father Alfonso now tends to the seven-hectare vegetable garden, providing the freshest ingredients for his son and the brigade of chefs including lemons and olive oil.

The dining room itself is open with plenty of natural light, decorated in a mixture of pink and white, and there’s an outdoor dining area and patio for when the sun is out (which, being situated on the Amalfi coast, is most of the time). One of the most interesting things about the villa in which the restaurant is based is the wine cellar; to get to it, staff must navigate a maze of chambers which date back to the fifteenth century, before descending down a stone staircase which runs alongside the 25,000 bottles owned by Ernesto and the team. At the very bottom is an old well, thirty-five metres underground, which is now used for ageing cheese.

Ernesto runs the kitchen, while his mother Livia and brother Mario take care of front of house. There are twenty chefs serving fifty diners at any one time, proving the sheer the amount of work that goes into each course. Don Alfonso 1890 gained its first star in 1985 and its second in 1990. Between 1997 and 2002, it was listed as a three-starred restaurant, but now continues to run at a two-star level.