Mariella Caputo – Taverna del capitano
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Mariella Caputo was born in Piano di Sorrento, studied piano at the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory in Naples and attended the Faculty of Economics and Commerce in Naples.
But her artistic and academic ambitions vanished in front of the strong appeal of working in the family restaurant.
She is sommelier and owner, together with her brother Alfonso, chef, of the “Taverna del Capitano”, restaurant in Nerano-Marina del Cantone in the municipality of Massa Lubrense.
One Michelin star since 1995 and two stars since 2007, the best references in the most important international gastronomic guides.
The cellar of the restaurant, personally curated by Mariella, contains about 15,000 fine bottles and received the “Winery of the Year” award from the Espresso Guide in 2000.
She followed in her father’s footsteps and began to attend the courses for sommeliers of the A.I.S. (Italian Sommelier Association) to become the first sommelier of Campania and finalist of the First Sommelier of Italy competition in 1994, obtaining second place.
She is a professional sommelier since 1982 as well as an A.I.S. (Italian Sommelier Association) teacher for the combination of desserts – wine and qualified taster.
Desserts and pastry preparations are a great passion, hence the decision to improve the preparation techniques.
She worked at Gualtiero Marchesi in Milan, Antonio Sciullo in Rome, and at the “Etoile” school in Venice (up to having a very prestigious French honor).
Oil master since 1990, she participated as a member of the panel of tasters at the final of the Ercole Olivario in Spoleto (prestigious award for quality extra virgin olive oils).
She has received many awards and honors: for the “Restaurants of Italy 2006” of the Espresso Guide she was maitre of the year.
Since 2013, with the closing of the restaurant-hotel in winter, she has travelled the world with her brother visiting the most prestigious hotel and restaurant chains to promote Italian wine and food.
Since 2013, she has actively participated in “Parabere forum” a worldwide platform that brings together the most influential female personalities of the food and wine scene, to tell their problems and perspectives from a different point of view.
In 2016 she received the “Identità di sala” award in Milan for the best dining room service in Italy.
She is a founding member and director of the Italian association Ambassadors of taste, a non-profit organization, expressing the excellence of Italian catering and pastry: those who through their profession have distinguished themselves in the enhancement of the Italian food and wine heritage, gathered to do business, in Italy and in the world.
Since 2016 she has participated, with Alfonso, in the “Week of Italian cuisine in the world” to promote Italian cuisine in the world and the fight against food waste, until now they have been involved in the embassies of Madrid, La Paz, Cape Town and Pretoria.


The rules change, the tools for communicating multiply. Consumption habits never remain the same, because new needs are created over time. And this progress sometimes carries us forward, other times it forces us to retrace our steps, to recalibrate our actions to understand how to look to the future.
Ties, trust, sharing, aggregation. This is probably the new key to open tomorrow. Get involved, teamwork and curiosity; these are the main reasons
The project starts from a simple idea, from a story that binds us, from a shared dream.
Participation is a process of construction even before being a result and the comparison often leads to overturning our ideas, but also to improving them in the common interest. ”
Mariella Caputo – Taverna del Capitano