In Naples in the Sanità district, “Da Pasquale” is a place that perfectly embodies the ingenious and generous spirit of the neighborhood where Totò was born, a small minimarket transformed into a bistrot chantant inspired by the best Neapolitan traditions.

Da Pasquale is a place where everyone should spend some time. To take a journey into the soul of the Neapolitans and understand the magic of one of the most beautiful neighborhoods of Naples, Sanità, which not by chance was the birthplace of the great Antonio De Curtis, aka Totò, and of the masterpiece of the architect Ferdinando Sanfelice, Palazzo dello Spagnolo.

A place that contains all the wonder, culture and contradictions of the city and where miracles happen because there still are those who believe in them and want to bring beauty even where it wasn’t there before or, rather, it was just hidden waiting to be brought to light.

The elects are those for whom beautiful things have no other meaning than pure beauty.

(Oscar Wilde)

Cristallini 78 was born in 2022 in the spaces of what has always been the Casertano family’s minimarket. Pasquale has always been passionate about cooking, conviviality and bel canto (singing) and, so, after another local festival in which he cooked in the shop for the neighbourhood, he took courage to start his adventure: creating a family place where he could meet up with friends just like at home.

And here the magic happens. All the inhabitants of the neighborhood, and also illustrious “friends” such as the writer and photographer Ico Gasparri, lent him a hand to set up the small minimarket. They brought him porcelain services, tables and chairs and even took up a collection to fulfill another of Pasquale’s dreams: to buy and restore a piano with which he could train his passion for singing.

Everything in the restaurant speaks of the neighborhood and of Pasquale’s passions. Obviously starting from the menu. By reservation only, Pasquale organizes lunches and dinners for his friends in which he brings to the table the products of the shop and the most famous recipes of Neapolitan cuisine: appetizers based on artisanal cured meats and vegetables with provola cheese, his legendary pastas, such as the Genovese and the Norma alla sua maniera, the potato gatò and the inevitable pastiera served with limoncello.

As an accompaniment, you can never miss wines from the Campania region, homemade bread with sourdough and 24-hour leavening cooked with hazelnut peels from a friend in Arzano…and bel canto.

If you are lucky, in fact, Pasquale might even give you the gift of his art, singing ancient Neapolitan songs, such as Marechiaro and Fenesta Vascia, in an interpretation that gives you real goosebumps. And suddenly the famous phrase “in Naples everything is poetry” takes on its true meaning.

The Secret

Pasquale Casertano is one of the symbols of the rebirth of the Sanità district, today one of the most culturally lively neighborhoods in the city. His face is, in fact, among those chosen to be exhibited in Santa Maria Maddalena ai Cristallini, known as “the Blue Church”, which reopened after 40 years with murals and completely repainted in blue by great artists (2 minutes walk from Da Pasquale and absolutely worth a visit).

Useful Info

Cristallini 78 Da Pasquale
Via Cristallini 78
80137 Napoli
Tel. +39 331 5691482