“You are people that want to learn about other cultures, that enjoy meeting people and getting to know about them and where they come from, who are curious to see more than what you can see from a tour bus.”

“We love to welcome people in and show them what we love to do.”

“You make us very happy and proud that you want to learn from us. To listen to us.”

“No, the pleasure has been all ours. What an incredible experience. What a wonderful day.”

And so went the nearly all day love fest that we called a cooking class with Stella and her son Maurizio, owners of the Excelsior Parco Hotel, our home in Capri for the past three nights.

* * *

We have visited Capri before, twice before in fact. Both visits, however, were short day trips from the mainland, arriving by ferry from Sorrento or Naples with a crowd of similarly situated day trippers, fighting the same crowd to get to the funiculare for the ride from Capri port to Capri town ahead of the masses, window shopping at the same stores as everyone else, jamming into the same restaurants, always on the early side because you were conscious of getting back to the port in plenty of time to catch the return ferry.

Our visit to Capri this time, although too short still at just three nights was a different animal altogether. This time we were able, as Stella remarked, to see more than one could see from a tour bus. This time, despite a schedule that was designed to allow plenty of time for work as well as play, we did see the island. We saw it from a boat, circling its entire perimeter, swimming its cool crisp waters. We enjoyed long lunches and even longer dinners, joking with the English speaking and highly engaging waiters and local service providers who at least on the surface seem to love their island home and their tourist paymasters. We saw Capri through different eyes than in the past. And we liked what we saw.

And we spent the day with Stella and Maurizio, a patrician Caprese clan who actually live in Naples but whose connection to and love for this island is apparent. And who love nothing more than an appreciative audience not to teach cooking to, but to share their love of food and wine with. To share their love of their way of life.

Such was our day at their home, less of a house and more of a compound or housing complex, anonymously hidden behind a stone wall just off the historic Roman road, the Via Truglio. After an hour shopping for produce and a visit to a fish market that the evening before had seemed so nondescript, but in the company of Stella and Maurizio became a fascinating museum, we entered their home. And then began not the lesson, but the experience.

For nearly two hours we relaxed and unwound as we chopped and cleaned and fried and grilled. Simple bruschetta made from aromatic bread toasted in a hot skillet, some topped with pickled vegetables from Stella’s prior year’s harvest and some with a warm tomato and eggplant topping that Maurizio prepared. We cleaned giant calamari and stuffed them with a simple mixture of dried bread, soaked in the liquid from sautéing the tentacles and then enriched with that meat finely chopped and combined with olives, capers, parsley and just a few unctuous picadilly tomatoes. We sautéed an enormous pan of mixed frutti di mare – clams, mussels and other unnamable shellfish. We sautéed fresh mussels in a broth of white wine and lemon and served them over hard fricelle bread. We made a simple but delicious nutella mousse. All the while we told stories, heard about life in Naples and on Capri and got a glimpse into what makes this family tick.

Stella, our gracious host, led us to the outdoor table where, for the next two and a half hours we enjoyed our handiwork, the frutti di mare of our labors. We swapped stories about life in Washington, DC and San Francisco and anecdotes about life on Capri and in Napoli. We remarked about how good the food was and how good life was to be able to enjoy it under an arbor of grapes in our new friends’ back yard, with the shimmering blue waters of Capri port in the distance and hazy Mount Vesuvius, as it has for millions of years, providing an imposing backdrop that reminded us of how fleeting life is and how fortunate we are to be able to enjoy days like these.

Our Capri coming of age, our transition from casual, detached tourist to curious, appreciative fan was completed this day. We will never be the Caprese or Napolitani that Stella and Maurizio are. But on a day that we shared a meal, a kitchen and a table with them, we became their friends and they ours. And that’s not a bad memory to take home from Capri.

Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy