Belmond and Apartamento launch Campania: Recipes & Wanderings through Italy's Polychromatic Coast 

Apartamento and Belmond are proud to present Campania: Recipes & Wanderings Across Italy’s Polychromatic Coast. The third volume in the Recipes & Wanderings series, after Liguria and Penang, celebrates the joys of meandering through culinary communities around the world with artistic perspectives from talented photographers and writers.

Campania: Recipes & Wanderings Across Italy’s Polychromatic Coast features original and wildly vibrant photography by Lea Colombo, offering readers a never-seen-before kaleidoscopic perspective on the region with the use of technicolour imagery.

The cookbook presents 21 classic dishes, including many taken from the kitchens of Caruso, A Belmond Hotel, previously an 11th-century palace perched on the highest peak of the Amalfi Coast. Alongside three guest recipes by Nina Clemente known for her vibrant Southern Italian-inspired cuisine, Italo-Venezuelan chef Bernardo Costantino, and Salvatore Giuliano, the third generation managing the historic Napolitan restaurant, Mimì alla Ferrovia, established by his grandfather in 1943.

Essays by writers Elisa Carassai, Claudia Durastanti, and Margo Schachter feature across the cookbook, providing Italian perspectives on the region's literary echoes, its beauty as seen through a local sensibility, and its history told through its ingredients. Adding to these insights, four location stories highlight the region’s star staples—ancient olive groves, artisanal pasta, handcrafted mozzarella—all of which make their way to Caruso's kitchen and pizza oven, balanced by the sharp tang of lemon and the richness of the sea. The journey through Campania ends on a postcard afterword by chef, journalist and author of 21 best-selling cookbooks Darina Allen.

Campania follows the narrative of the land, and the dreamscape of the polychromatic coastline dotted with fishing villages and lively ports where the chaos of Naples quiets. It’s a region of Italy completely intertwined with its most famous ingredients: Amalfi lemons, rich cheeses, such as mozzarella and pecorino, ripe red tomatoes, and, of course, olives. This third instalment is where innovation transforms traditions into an art form.

Disembarking at Caruso in Ravello, Executive Chef and Naples-native Armando Aristarco presents the classics of the coastline, including Caruso Pizza, Caprese salad, spaghetti with lemons and capers, and the Caruso gimlet. The pizza oven is built within a medieval ruin at the heart of the hotel by the iconic pool, where the fire is continuously fuelled throughout the day.

Readers can recreate these quintessential recipes, capturing the region of Campania in their own homes whilst learning about the intricacies of ingredients through local suppliers. From family-run pasta factories to mozzarella makers who work amidst fields near Greek ruins to olive oil producers hidden high up in the hills of Cilento, these specialists make the cuisine possible by honouring artisanal practices. Aristarco explains the importance of provenance throughout his dishes: “authentic flavours are the result of tradition and passion as well as respect for the territory”.

Continuing Belmond’s commitment to championing new perspectives in travel photography, Lea Colombo is a self-taught artist from Cape Town, South Africa. Recognised for her bold and saturated style, Lea examines the values between colour, light, energy, and form by guiding the viewer to see beyond.

Campania: Recipes & Wanderings Across Italy’s Polychromatic Coast, published by Apartamento and Belmond, will be available worldwide through Apartamento’s website and extensive distribution network from Tuesday 8 April 2025.  This instalment joins the growing family of cookbooks, also featuring Liguria and Penang,  here.