CAPORIVO, the chef’s new project, has opened in Vico Equense: an intimate spot where the market dictates the menu and recipes from memory meet thirty-five years of experience.

There are places where one begins and to which, sooner or later, one feels the need to return.

For Gennaro Esposito that place is Vico Equense, overlooking the Mediterranean, where his professional journey began over thirty-five years ago.

It is here that Caporivo, the new project by the chef and owner of Torre del Saracino, comes to life: not simply another restaurant, but a gastronomic laboratory dedicated to roots, to the cuisine of Campania families, and to that memory of flavor that spans generations, regions, and everyday rituals.

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Caporivo takes shape right in Esposito’s historic location, now transformed into an independent and more intimate establishment. The principle behind it is almost elementary—and precisely for this reason, deeply contemporary: going to the market, observing what the season has to offer, selecting ingredients at their peak, and then cooking them.

The kitchen will not, therefore, be guided by a rigidly predetermined menu. The dishes may change daily, depending on availability, seasonality, and intuition.

This approach brings the culinary experience back to its roots, when it was the market—and not a menu written weeks in advance—that dictated what would end up on the table.

“Vico Equense is home. It’s the place where I grew up and where, over thirty-five years ago, my professional journey began.” Caporivo was born out of a desire to return to those roots and devote myself to the cuisine I’ve always known. It’s a laboratory where the market, seasonality, and instinct guide what we serve every day. And there’s also a desire to revive dishes that are part of my history, some of which date back thirty years, to when the Torre del Saracino journey began,” says Gennaro Esposito. “It’s a project that looks to the future, but one that stems from my deepest roots.”

A return that stems precisely from the desire to rediscover the cuisine I’ve always known, letting the market, the season, and instinct guide our work each day.

But within this return to his roots lies the chef’s personal story as well.

Alongside dishes rooted in the traditions of the Sorrento Coast, Naples, and the Mediterranean in general, several dishes that have marked the various stages of Esposito’s professional career will make a comeback, including recipes dating back to the early years of Torre del Saracino.

A sort of living gastronomic archive: not a nostalgic celebration of the past, but an opportunity to reinterpret it through the experience gained over time.

Even the name reflects the connection to the local area. Caporivo pays homage to the watchtower of the same name, which is integral to the landscape and history of the Seiano coast.

It is a geographical reference, but above all, one of identity: because the new project seems to want to start exactly here, from what belongs to the place even before it belongs to the chef.

The restaurant will be intentionally intimate: 25–28 seats in the winter and about 30 in the summer, to maintain a direct connection between the kitchen, the dining room, and the guests.

Diners can choose à la carte or opt for a tasting menu curated daily based on the available ingredients and dishes.

The restaurant is scheduled to open on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, in Vico Equense (Naples), five days after the debut of the two-Michelin-starred restaurant at the Bellevue Syrene, featuring a menu centered on seasonal ingredients, market finds, and local family recipes

Caporivo will be open for dinner on Tuesdays, for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Saturday, and for lunch on Sundays, offering a sophisticated and highly intriguing menu.

Born in Vico Equense, Gennaro Esposito is the chef and owner of Torre del Saracino, a two-Michelin-star restaurant, and for over thirty-five years he has pursued a culinary exploration rooted in the local territory, ingredients, and identity. He is also the creator of Festa a Vico, an event that over the years has brought together some of the most significant figures in Italian gastronomy.

With Caporivo, however, he seems to be choosing a different—almost opposite—path: after exploring, researching, and building one of the most acclaimed experiences in contemporary Italian cuisine, he returns to his starting point.

To seasonality. To the market. To recipes preserved in family memories. To that Mediterranean cuisine that arises first and foremost from observing what the land and sea have to offer at that precise moment.

A new project, then. But in the same home as always.

CAPORIVO
Via Torretta, 9 – 80069 Vico Equense (NA)
Tel. +39 081 8028555
Email: prenotazioni@caporivo.it