Lo Scoglio, Marina del Cantone

Lo Scoglio at Marina del Cantone is one of Italy's most celebrated seafood restaurants, a destination establishment set directly on the pebble beach at a small cove near the tip of the Sorrentine Peninsula, south of Sorrento and accessible by a winding coastal road. The De Simone family has run Lo Scoglio for decades and built a reputation that extends well beyond Campania — food critics, chefs, and dedicated food travellers make specific journeys to eat here. The restaurant is simultaneously famous for two dishes that could not seem more different: the spaghetti con ricci di mare (with freshly opened sea urchin, glistening with the iodine-rich raw roe simply dressed in olive oil) and the spaghetti alle zucchine, a pasta made with the small, sweet local zucchini, their blossoms, and a surprising complexity of flavour that has made it as talked-about as any of the seafood preparations. Both dishes are seasonal and dependent on the freshest possible local sourcing — the sea urchins are dived locally, the zucchini grown in the family's garden. The setting — tables on a terrace above the pebble beach at the base of dramatic cliffs, with clear turquoise water and boats moored in the cove — is one of the most beautiful anywhere on the Italian coast. Reservations must be made weeks or months in advance during summer, and a visit typically involves combining the meal with a swim in the cove.