The 'Punta Reginella' part of Positano
‘La Costiera Divina’, The Divine Coast, as the Amalfi Coast, a seductive stretch of coastline lying slinkily on the southern end of the ‘shin’ of the Italian boot, is also known. And aptly named so as this was the playground of the gods! (their myth and mystery still endure...)
Today’s playground is the pearl of the Amalfi Coast: Positano. It is here that the cooking school, ‘La Cucina Divina’, is located. Positano is a magnet to both international and fellow Italian visitors. It is a fantasy destination that grabs ahold of you, forever its captive, an enchanting dream from which there is no escape, one filled with romantic light, heady nights and gastronomic delights!
What more perfect place to immerse oneself in southern Italian cuisine! Just one bite of anything here is enough to swoop you away, as if in Bacchus’ magical panther-drawn chariot to an other-worldy dimension!
Foodies and seasoned traveller’s know that through the enjoyment of a town’s local cuisine, one seemingly tastes the very heart and soul of the place – and here on the Amalfi Coast, once you’ve tasted, the memory lingers and one’s only release is to return...or at least take some of the ‘know-how’ back with you to be re-created in your own kitchen.
‘La Cucina Divina’ arranges cooking experiences which are wickedly fun, informative and deliciously hands-on and without a doubt will be one of your most memorable holiday moments ever!
Cooking on The Divine Coast
Sharon and Rachel Kirschner with Chef Salvatore
Farm-fresh eggs
Just the other day I met Sharon and Rachel Kirschner, a mom and daughter travelling here together, in the kitchen, where they were getting very hands-on with their cooking lesson! There's a Latin proverb which says: "While the pot boils, friendship endures." I've read another take on this that suggests rather that friendship blooms, and that's exactly what happened! A serendipitous encounter over farm-fresh eggs, flour, Virgin Mary blessed mountain water, pine-forest plucked porcini mushrooms, ricotta cheese and prawns (the makings of ravioli!) certainly
did bloom and led to moments of
tourmaline searching on
Spiaggia Grande, a visit to
Amalfi, with a stop at
Andrea Pansi, one of only a handful of pastry shops in Italy which have been continuously family-owned and run by consecutive generations - this is now the 5th generation -
and
Ravello (known as the City of Music as it has inspired many a great composer, the likes of Wagner, and hosts an annual classical music festival)
; a light dinner of
stuffed artichokes and
zucchini fries at
La Cambusa down at the beach one evening and
platters of
frutti di mare at
Il Ritrovo up in
Montepertuso on another
....more about these fabulous restaurants at a later stage!
Frutti di Mare - Mixed Seafood
What great company Sharon and Rachel were - and what a pleasure to have guests with whom to share the trove of treasures here - culinary and otherwise! But if it's a journey into the heart and soul of the southern Italian kitchen you're after, La Cucina Divina is a good place to start!
BUON APPETITO!