Via Padre Michele Abete, 6
Phone +39 081 5313840

Closed on Sundays
Holidays in August

Arriving in Sant’Anastasia is really easy: we are on the Northern side of the Vesuvius, from the Naples-Rome motorway you have to turn down into the median axis towards Nola and leave the exit. It is a bit difficult to find this trattoria in the maze of alleys of the historical centre because there are no signs, yet everybody knows where it is and it’s also possible that someone will decide to accompany you. In fact the advantage of living in a town is just that: the human relationships survive. Yu will find a cosy little room: we are in one of the oldest trattorias of the whole Agro-Vesuvius area. It was opened in 1924 and it has been managed by the same family for more than half a century. The near town of Somma is well-known for the stockfish trade whereas this place has been the biggest kid trading centre for decades. The kids were bought by people coming from the whole Southern Italy and they were retailed in the cities above all in the Christmas and Easter period as in Italy, unfortunately, people are not used to eating them all year round. Well then this inn has been a point of reference for this trade. It is not as popular now as in the past, but it is a real food temple, the altar of the true traditions of the lively peasant cuisine, typical of the area of the dormant volcano which has given many dishes to the city like cuttlefish with peas and stuffed flying squids but also vegetables (aubergine gratin, “friarielli” and so on). The traditional wedding soup (“minestra maritata”) is perfectly realized. Don’t miss the lamb entrails which are defined with an onomatopoeic word, that is  “'ntruglitielli” (in Irpinia they are called “muglitielli”, in Cilento “'mbruoglitielli”), and some dishes presented by Curti at the great food society parties like pasta with beans and pasta with chickpeas. We like the pasta with lamb “ragù” sauce the best. The main reason to make a visit here is that the recipes aren’t realized with experimental techniques but they are prepared just in the way they were done fifty or sixty years ago. You can’t say to have tasted the Neapolitan cuisine if you haven’t been here at least twice! The service is pleasant as it was in the past, it is caring and homely, you will have the sensation to have always been here. There is a small assortment of cheeses followed by the traditional desserts of the territory. The real weak point is wine, the selection is scarce even if it is good: it would be enough to do the rounds of the Vesuvius companies to make the wine-list more complete without rising the prices. The traditional dishes would be well associated to the Lacryma Christi wine whereas the wines from Tuscany are really inappropriate! You can finish your meal with the home-made “Nocillo” (a liqueur derived from walnuts), a must product in Campania invented, made and advertised by Enzo D’Alessandro and his wife Sofia in the workshop in via Garibaldi, 57. Enzo belongs to the last, pleasant and dynamic Curti (a dialect word meaning “short people”) generation. And by the way, the name of this trattoria will not disappoint you: here they really are quite short! You will roughly spend 30 Euros.

From the web site of the Vesuvius National Park

"Curti", in the Neapolitan dialect, is the adjective which people shorter than the average are defined with.

Luigi and Antonio Ceriello, two brothers original of S. Anastasia, a Vesuvian town at the foot of Mount Somma, were like Lilliputian dwarfs, just “curti” in the common idiom.

After being round all the peninsula as masters of circus shows, they decided to return to their town of origin and to use a part of the versatile education they got during many years spent working in the Italian cities which are coffers of the food and wine traditions. In fact in 1952 they took over an inn with a kitchen opened in 1924 by an uncle of theirs who, preferring the material pleasures to the spiritual ones, had renounced his vows; at the beginning the inn kept the name “o’ monaco”, the monk in dialect, which was given by the founder. The cuisine imagination of the “curti” rediscovered some of the oldest dishes of the Neapolitan food, already described in detail in the recipe books by Cavalcanti and Corrado some centuries ago and deep-rooted in the traditions of the Vesuvian hinterland: the wedding soup (“minestra maritata”), marinated zucchini and aubergines (this dish was even mentioned in the “De re coquinaria” by Apicio), then the spring lamb with new peas, the roasted  "'ntrugliatielli" with potatoes  and “piennolo” tomatoes. The rich food and the typical Neapolitan conviviality of the “curti” soon turned the originary inn, known as the cellar of the “curti” now, into a point of reference of the local gourmets. Don Luigi " 'o curto", the best known of the two brothers, died in 1973 leaving a lively memory still now (it calls Foscolo to our mind) not only among his fellow villagers. The food tradition is carried out by the other "curto", Antonio, helped in the kitchen, as from way back in 1952, by his sister Assunta, by their nephew Angela and, since 1965, by Angela’s husband, Carmine D’Alessandro.

When in 1990 the other “curto” died, this typical restaurant was deep-rooted in the food and management dictates of the "curti", kept by their successors (Assunta, Angela and Carmine) with great care. They have widened the selection of delicious food with lively passion and enlarged professionalism but without forgetting the sound connections with the local tradition as is shown by the noodles with seafood and meat ingredients or the aubergine rolls. In 1995 Angela and Carmine’s two children, Vincenzo and Sofia, decided to market the "nucillo" under aunt Assuntina’s supervision. So they produced it according what was indicated in a recipe dating back to 1904 and kept by the “curti” who had used it to realize this delicious liqueur which the clients started drinking at the end of the meal. This typical restaurant includes forty seats and the workshop where the “nucillo” is produced hoping that the cultural inheritance of the “curti” will be more and more appreciated in the modern global villages.

The 'E CURTI s.a.s. is the company of the Ceriello family which manages this typical restaurant, opened as an inn back in 1924 by Luigi Ceriello, and the liqueur workshop opened by Vincenzo D’Alessandro, Angela Ceriello’s son, where the “nucillo” is produced.

This typical restaurant became a point of reference for the gourmets from Campania in about 1970, when it was managed by Luigi and Antonio Ceriello, the founder’s nephews and also Angela’s uncles, who gave the present name to the restaurant itself (before its name was " 'o monaco", that is the monk, because the founder started the activity after renouncing his vows) as the two Ceriello brothers were like Lilliputian dwarfs, just " 'e curti" in the Neapolitan dialect.

The two “curti”, helped by their sister Assunta, their niece Angela and then by Angela’s husband, Carmine D’Alessandro, propose the dishes of the best Neapolitan food tradition, completely respecting the cooking processes: they only use copper saucepans, so meeting the unanimous approval of more and more attentive and selected clients.

This typical restaurant is managed following the guidelines of the “curti” and now it is cared for by Angela, Carmine and aunt “Assuntina”, the sister of the “curti” brothers who are now dead. They are having more and more good reviews on food magazines like Gambero Rosso, Arcigola Slow Food, Espresso, Gente Viaggi in July 1996 and I Ristoranti by bell'Italia.

In 1997 Vincenzo and Sofia D’Alessandro, with the help and the watchful cooperation of the family, decided to market the “nucillo”, producing it, as they had always done for the restaurant, according to a recipe dating back to 1904 and kept with great care by the “curti”. So the family started to produce this liqueur in the workshop with scrupulous attention and lively passion.

A historical outline about Nocino
The nocino derives from the walnut husks after they have been macerated in alcohol for about 60 days. The walnut was sacred for the Greeks, the Romans and the pagans. The walnut tree was also connected to the esoteric rites of the witches who gathered under its branches to make demoniac Sabbaths. 

Still now according to the tradition the green walnuts, used to make this liqueur, have to be reaped only on the night of the 24 of June, the day in which the summer solstice was celebrated some time ago and that now reminds us of Saint John the Baptist from a religious point of view. In the sixteenth century they already knew the good effects it could have on the stomach because they were testified in the “Tesoro della Sanità” by the famous doctor Casto Durante de Gualdo. Certainly the roots of this liqueur are in the Po Valley but it has entered the food tradition of the walnut-producing areas, in fact also in Naples the old families bound to tradition offer this liqueur derived from walnuts at the end of the meal. It is called “nucillo” in dialect.

"' E CURTI NUCILLO"
The "nucillo” produced by “'e curti” is only realized with handcrafted techniques and following the dictates of our best food tradition. The husks of the walnuts from Sorrento are hand-picked from the trees which are at the foot of Mount Somma, in the heart of the newly born National Vesuvius Park. On the 24 of June husks are reaped and they are hand-cut in four parts and then they macerate in only alcohol and natural spices in green glass demijohns which are constantly exposed to sunlight. So, after 60 days, the husks have turned into the delicious liqueur thanks to the sun energy. In order not to alter the organoleptic properties of the liqueur it is decanted in proper tanks and then it is hand-mixed with a syrup made of sugar and water. Before the mixing which gives life to the nucillo, the liqueur is filtered with a roll of cloth from Holland, that is the fabric used by the Neapolitan noblewomen to make the sheets of their trousseaus. So around the middle of September the “nucillo” is produced by “'e curti”. This liqueur has a very high digestive power deriving not only from the high alcoholic content, which is about 50°, but also from the presence of the clove which anaesthetizes the stomach pains during the digestion (that was also well-known in ancient times).

The “nucillo” produced by “' e curti” is sold in an elegant packaging which synthesizes the most refined handcrafted traditions from Campania and can be purchased in the best confectioner’s shops, bars and wine bars in the Campania region.