In Salerno we have always eaten well, even without looking for anything in particular. The city lies right halfway between the Amalfi Coast and the Cilento, and you can taste it on the table: lemons and anchovies on one side, goat's cheeses, cured meats and pulses on the other. Here we tell you what to taste when you are in town, from street food to dairy and sweets.
A cuisine between two coasts
Salerno's cuisine has a lot in common with that of Naples, but it is no copy. The province brings to the city products that have a name and often a protected designation: Mozzarella di bufala campana DOP from the Piana del Sele, Limone Costa d'Amalfi IGP, Carciofo di Paestum IGP, Fico bianco del Cilento DOP and Nocciola di Giffoni IGP. A simple dish made with these ingredients already tells you a lot about the area. We cover them in depth in our articles on the Amalfi Coast lemon, the Paestum artichoke, the Cilento white fig and the Giffoni hazelnut.
Milza, the street food of San Matteo
If there is one dish the people of Salerno consider their own, it is milza imbottita, stuffed spleen, in dialect 'a mevza. It is a humble dish: the spleen is stuffed with garlic, parsley and chilli, then cooked with oil and vinegar, and it is often eaten in a bread roll. The time you will find it everywhere is the feast of the patron saint, on 21 September, when stalls fill the streets of the centre. We tasted it on exactly those days, amid the crowds of the procession: you can smell the vinegar from far away. For the feast, see our article on San Matteo and the procession of the paranze.
Mozzarella, zizzona and Cilento cured meats
A few kilometres from the city, in the Piana del Sele, buffalo mozzarella is made. Its most spectacular version is the zizzona di Battipaglia, born in Battipaglia, a large mozzarella that can weigh several kilos, with a shape that recalls a woman's breast; the name is a trademark registered by a local dairy. We suggest sharing it with friends, with a drizzle of oil and little else. We talk about it in our article on the zizzona di Battipaglia.
The cured meats, on the other hand, come from the Cilento. Soppressata di Gioi, linked to the village of Gioi and a Slow Food Presidium, is recognisable when sliced by the strip of lard set in the centre, which keeps it soft. Pair it with goat's cacioricotta: you will find everything in our articles on soppressata di Gioi and Cilento goat's cacioricotta.
The taste of the sea: anchovies and colatura
Anchovies are a constant presence. In Cetara they make Colatura di alici di Cetara DOP, recognised by the European Union in 2020: an amber liquid used raw to dress spaghetti. In the Cilento, between Pisciotta and Pollica, the fishing of menaica anchovies lives on, salted in terracotta jars. Read about Cetara's colatura and Menaica anchovies.
Sweets not to miss
The city's signature dessert is the scazzetta: sponge cake, custard and wild strawberries, covered in a red glaze. The name comes from the red skullcap worn by cardinals, which its shape recalls. Then there is the delizia al limone, created in 1978 by the pastry chef Carmine Marzuillo in Sorrento and now the dessert of the whole coast, with its dome of lemon cream. The Coast also gives us the sfogliatella Santa Rosa, born in the convent of Conca dei Marini: its story is in The Santa Rosa sfogliatella.
In the surroundings
- Salerno and its surroundings: our guide to the city and the province.
- Typical dishes of Salerno: traditional recipes, from the Amalfi Coast to the Cilento.
- Pioppi and the Mediterranean diet: the Cilento village that symbolises the Mediterranean diet.
- The 5 most important food festivals in Salerno and its province: where to taste these dishes at a festa.
- The wines of Salerno: the designations to pair with these flavours.
Top photo (Salerno): No machine-readable author provided. Giaros assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
