Hortus Sorrento restaurant is located inside Villa Zagara Sorrento with its largest historic garden in the city center, a paradise where you can dine pampered by the hospitality of the Acampora-Apreda family and the botanical cuisine of chef Domenico Tulliano.

Owned by the Acampora-Apreda family since 1978, Villa Zagara Sorrento is immersed in wonderful botanical gardens and owes its name to the citrus flowers of the same name that, according to classical mythology, were given as gifts to the goddesses for their wedding rites.

And it is precisely to classical myths that the wonderful villa overlooking the seaside village of Marina Grande owes its origins. Agrippa, the famous Roman general who defeated Cleopatra and Anthony, lived there in the summer of the 1st century BC together with his second wife Julia, daughter of Caesar Octavian. In fact, he is responsible for the construction of the outdoor nympheum that currently corresponds to the romantic swimming pool of Villa Zagara Sorrento.

The cuisine is all based on flowers and aromas from the garden, an experience that offers the opportunity to enjoy nature, but also to taste it and discover its hidden flavours and aromas.

(Anna and Dorotea Apreda)

The gardens surrounding the Villa have belonged to the Benedictine Monastery of San Giorgio since 1200, the date of the beginning of their long botanical vocation. Thanks to the passion of the current owners, Anna Acampora and Nino Apreda, who come from historic Sorrento families devoted to hospitality, for flowers, aromatic and medicinal herbs, this magical place has been enriched over the years with an ever-increasing number of plants and even rare species.

Together with their children, in particular Dorotea who manages the Villa and the many events that are organized there, in 2024 they created Hortus Sorrento, a wonderful botanical restaurant where you can not only observe and listen to nature, but also savor it in all its nuances.

In the kitchen we find the young chef Domenico Tulliano, with previous experience in Grand Hotels of the Sorrento Peninsula, who mixes vegetable ingredients picked in the garden with excellent local raw materials to create dishes that find inspiration in tradition and amaze with refined floral combinations.

Two special products that are born in Villa Zagara Sorrento also contribute to ensuring a unique taste: the extra virgin olive oil from the Minucciola cultivar, winner of the Leone d’Oro, and the balsamic vinegar that ages in the balsameria-lounge located at the entrance to the residence.

On the menu we find recipes that evoke the scents of Eden, such as Il Nasturzio e la Menta “Cioccolato”, raw red shrimps on pea “sand”, crispy leek, chocolate mint, lime gel, shrimp mayonnaise and nasturtium leaves, or Il Cece e La Lavanda, a plin filled with chickpea hummus creamed with rosemary with black chickpea cream and popcorn and chickpea salad flavored with lavender.

The wine list is dedicated, like the cuisine, to enhancing the labels of the territory, such as the “heroic” ones of Marisa Cuomo with whom the Apreda family has a long friendship.

The design is wonderful, conceived, as is the mise en place, by the elegant Anna and Dorotea who has curated the Hortus Sorrento experience down to the smallest details.

Theirs is the idea of ​​placing fresh homemade bread in boxes decorated with the Intarsio Sorrentino technique, of serving small pastries on a vintage carillon or of covering the walls of the romantic portico of the restaurant with dozens of candles.

Among rows of bulb lights, rattan chairs, tables decorated with Vietri ceramics and floral placemats, the experience at Hortus Sorrento transports us to the most romantic dream of the Campania Felix from which it will be difficult to wake up.

The Secret

Even the mosquito repellent spray diffused through special ducts placed on the porch is based on completely natural scented essential oils.

Useful Info

Hortus Sorrento
Via Sopra Le Mura 11
80067 Sorrento, Napoli
Tel. +39 377 3210005 | +39 349 5677276

Appetizers and first courses: from 28 euro
Second courses: from 30 euro
Tasting menu: from 120 euro, wine pairing 60 euro