By Dylan Dias
If you find yourself lost within the stoned streets of Anacapri, you may discover what it feels like to step into a storybook. Graceful storefronts in colourful silks and pottery, rustic homes in weathered stucco and gorgeous iron gates, and enduring villas, protected by time and tradition, surrounded by the jeweled aquamarine of the sea. The island of Capri holds many stories close to its beating, pelagic heart – from the boutique glamour and lantern-lit opulence of the town of Capri itself, to the provincial charm of the village-like Anacapri, lush with the laughter of children playing soccer in its main piazza and the vibrant majolica that peppers the town’s tranquil, winding paths – a rich mosaic of culture. It’s here that your chapter of discovery might lead you to one of the island’s most treasured family legacies – the lemon garden restaurant of La Zagara.
Pocketed inside the verdant citrus grove of Casa Mariantonia – a quietly palatial, powder rose villa with over a century of history – La Zagara sits clandestinely beneath the fragrant, citrine canopy of the garden’s lemon trees. On a warm, bright day, under an endless blue sky and a breathtaking vista of Monte Solaro in the distance – Capri’s highest mountain peak – we were given the opportunity to sit, eat, drink, and learn a bit more about the magic behind this place. Marcello, one of three siblings who now oversee the historic property – alongside Pierpaolo and Mariangela – was kind enough to share a glimpse into his family’s story and heritage. The foundation for what La Zagara is and aspires to always be – an artisanal, sustainable, and harvest-rich approach to food, land, and distillation emblematic of Mariantonia herself – the matriarch of the eponymous villa, great-grandmother to Marcello, and the original creator of limoncello on the island over a century earlier. Like its own history, the vivid, velvet-like canary liqueur – when produced from the timeless soil and citrus Mariantonia herself once cultivated – leaves a lasting, lingering impression as precious as yellow gold.
Before our meal, Marcello introduced us to the reason behind La Zagara’s name – the delicate, white citrus flower. The Zagara blossom that produces both orange and lemon varieties in the family’s 100-year-old orchard and all over Italy’s southern, Mediterranean regions – a unique, coastal climate that encourages the growth of lemons of exceptional quality, flavour, and essential oils. Which is why if you tour Capri, Sorrento, or anywhere throughout the Amalfi Coast, lemons are everywhere – as both a fruit and a symbol of culture. An emblem that has defined entire industries of food, design, and art throughout these regions.
It’s beautiful to have continuity. What my great-grandparents and family did for us; we will continue to do for the future. The next generation will enjoy the trees we’ve planted today.
— Marcello Pollio
At La Zagara, these lemons are tied to the very essence of the family’s generational roots – as deeply ingrained and interwoven with the earth as the trees themselves. It was Mariantonia herself, on the same land we were now standing on, that nurtured this grove and developed her limoncello in 1920. And it was the family thereafter, in 1989, using her original recipe, that created the first commercialized production of the aureolin liqueur under the brand Limoncello di Capri – the best you can get.
“Limoncello was born in this garden.”
However, Marcello was careful to remind us that honouring the land and the fruit cannot exist without honouring the nature, and the life, around it. The most important part of the protection and continuity of century-old lemon trees is deeper than just soil, sunlight, and terroir – it is pollination. Something we are aware of but often forget.
“Thanks to the bees, we have lemons.”
After a brief and insightful chat, my first plate arrived. Inspired by the flora and greenery of our setting, and of Capri itself, I chose a dish lovingly titled – “the flavours of our garden.” A collection of pure, whole ingredients placed together, but apart, in blocks of colour, texture, and preparation – like a walk through a forest path – guiding you to taste the wholeness of each vegetable, each micro-dish, in all that it is. Softened rapini, braised endive, carrots and cauliflower in herbed vinegar, escarole with capers, bell pepper roulade, and the rich, crisp warmth of eggplant and zucchini parmigiana. Each element held a quiet presence of what it was, the delicate confidence of restraint. Individual identities, though together, a painting; a mosaic of what the earth gives us. The natural beauty of natural food needn’t be anything else.
For Marcello, and the spirit of La Zagara, fostering space for new cultivations, trees, and plants that are continually growing and continually producing is paramount to who they are. Creating cycles of agricultural sustainability and clean, organic farming – maintaining what has always been but working to evolve it at the same time – similar to the traditions of the family itself. As within, so without. This is true for the groves themselves, which are grafted to propagate citrus throughout the year – oranges in the cooler winter months and lemons in the spring and summer. Beyond that, the family continues to plant new trees in new plots of land around Capri – promoting the growth of orchards that will become robust in the decades to come. A generational concept, and way of being, so closely tied to Italian culture as a whole.
“It’s beautiful to have continuity. What my great-grandparents and family did for us; we will continue to do for the future. The next generation will enjoy the trees we’ve planted today.”
Then, my dish to follow. Beautifully grilled octopus – charred, earthen, and tender – plated alongside simple, rustic potatoes and a bright, grassy, and herbaceous chimichurri made with the glossy, chartreuse cast of Capri olive oil and, of course, fresh lemon juice. A taste of the Tyrrhenian coast.
And finally, to end, a tasting of opulent dolci. Plated on translucent glass, like gemstones that have burst from a chest at sea – a collection of small cakes, tartlets, parfaits, creams, and fresh fruit. Flavours of citrus, tiramisù, chocolate, and hazelnut dressed in a confetti of meringue, brittle, soft gels, wild berries, passionfruit, and kiwi – a study in colour, texture, and movement like that of an acrylic impressionist. A jewel of a dish.
Speaking with Marcello, and the passionate team at La Zagara, means falling in love with the land, soil, and harvest of a family garden, and a heritage, as lush and deeply interwoven as Capri itself. In a way, it is an evolving tapestry that finds its spirit in both the past and the future. Somehow, being here, the simple and familiar lemon transforms into something so much greater than fruit; it transforms into a figure of time – into a legacy a great-grandmother planted inside the hearts of her family. Something that will continue to grow for generations.
“When you work with nature, it takes time.”
There is, perhaps, no greater beauty than the slowness of becoming. – VV
Photography courtesy of La Zagara, Amy Pigeon and Dylan Dias.
