Recipe: Spaghetti alla Nerano — The Accidental Icon of the Amalfi Coast

Some dishes are born in grand kitchens; others emerge from quiet necessity, from hunger, from chance. Spaghetti alla Nerano belongs to the latter. A humble composition of fried courgettes, cheese, and spaghetti, it somehow became a culinary symbol of the Amalfi Coast — and, thanks to Stanley Tucci’s viral devotion on Searching for Italy, a global phenomenon.

Yet behind the glamour of “Tucci’s pasta” lies a story that begins in a fishing village so small it barely appears on maps: Nerano, a sleepy curve of coastline between Sorrento and Positano, overlooking the Bay of Naples. There, on the terrace of a modest trattoria named Maria Grazia, one of Campania’s most beguiling recipes took shape.

The Story of a Coastal Miracle

The year was the early 1950s. Southern Italy was still recovering from war, and the villages of the Sorrentine Peninsula lived mostly from the sea and small gardens. Meat was scarce; courgettes, abundant. In this context, Maria Grazia, the matriarch who ran the family trattoria in Nerano, began frying the tender zucchine chiare di Napoli — pale-green, delicate, sweet — in generous olive oil. She served them over spaghetti, added a little grated cheese for body, and found that locals adored it.

But what turned the dish from good to transcendent was one ingredient: Provolone del Monaco DOP. This semi-aged cow’s milk cheese from nearby Vico Equense, with its subtle tang and buttery depth, melted perfectly into the starchy pasta water, transforming the fried courgettes into a luscious, creamy sauce without cream.

Word spread quickly along the coast. Fishermen came for it after dawn markets; summer visitors from Naples made pilgrimages to Maria Grazia’s terrace, where sea breeze met frying oil. By the 1960s, spaghetti con le zucchine alla Nerano had entered Campania’s unofficial canon — alongside spaghetti alle vongole, genovese napoletana, and ragù.

Unlike those older recipes, however, this one carried the new optimism of post-war Italy: lighter, brighter, vegetal. It was peasant food reborn as coastal luxury.

The Anatomy of a Legend

What makes Spaghetti alla Nerano special is not complexity but balance — between oil and starch, salt and sweetness, dairy and vegetable.
At its core, it’s a three-element equation:

1. Courgettes, fried until golden and nutty
The key is patience. The slices must caramelise, not steam. Traditionally they are fried in sunflower or light olive oil, then left to rest for a few hours. This resting step, often skipped by hurried cooks, softens their texture and deepens flavour.

2. Cheese, grated and melted through contact
The original combination — confirmed by the Maria Grazia family themselves — involves both Provolone del Monaco DOP and a touch of Parmigiano Reggiano. The first brings gentle acidity and melt; the second, sharpness and structure. The mix is tossed vigorously with the pasta water until it becomes a velvet-like emulsion.

The pasta itself

Bronze-cut spaghetti (or slightly thinner spaghettini) are ideal. Their rough surface catches the creamy zucchini sauce, while their long shape allows the flavours to intertwine.

A few basil leaves, black pepper, and a final spoon of butter or olive oil bring the dish together. Nothing else.
No garlic, no onions, no cream.

It’s the kind of simplicity that only works when every element is perfect — and that’s why, even seventy years later, chefs across Naples and Sorrento still debate the ideal ratio of zucchini to cheese, the correct frying oil, and whether the cheese should be folded on or off the heat.

The Classic Recipe: Spaghetti alla Nerano

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 350 g bronze-cut spaghetti
• 5–6 small courgettes (zucchine chiare di Napoli if possible)
• 100 g Provolone del Monaco DOP (or in absence, a good semi-aged provolone)
• 50 g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
• Extra virgin olive oil or light frying oil
• A small knob of butter (optional, for the final toss)
• Fresh basil leaves
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Prepare the courgettes
   Slice the courgettes into thin rounds, about 2–3 mm thick. Heat abundant oil in a large pan and fry them in batches until golden brown at the edges — not pale, but gently caramelised. Remove to drain on paper towels and sprinkle lightly with salt.
2. Let them rest
   Allow the fried courgettes to rest for at least 30 minutes (some cooks leave them overnight). This step allows them to relax and develop their signature nutty sweetness.
3. Cook the spaghetti
   Boil the pasta in salted water until al dente. Reserve at least 1½ cups of the starchy cooking water before draining.
4. Build the sauce
   In a large pan, reheat the fried courgettes with a ladle of the pasta water. Add the drained spaghetti directly to the pan and toss over low heat. Gradually sprinkle in the grated cheeses, stirring continuously. Add more water as needed to create a creamy emulsion — glossy, not watery.
5. Finish and serve
   Add the butter (if using), tear in basil leaves, and grind fresh black pepper on top. Serve immediately, with an extra shaving of Provolone if desired.
6. The result should be silken and rich, the courgettes barely visible, almost dissolved into the sauce. Each bite tastes like sunshine restrained by discipline — a dish that whispers, not shouts.

The Plant-Based Variation

For a plant-based or vegan version that retains the same indulgent texture, the key is to replicate Provolone’s umami and melt without dairy. Here’s how:

Ingredients

• 350 g spaghetti
• 5–6 small courgettes, thinly sliced and fried as above
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp ground cashews or almonds
• 1 tsp white miso paste or a splash of soy sauce
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Lemon zest and fresh basil

Method

1. Prepare the courgettes exactly as in the classic version — the slow fry and rest remain essential.
2. Blend nutritional yeast, cashews, miso, and a few tablespoons of warm water to form a light paste.
3. Toss the pasta and courgettes together with this paste and a little cooking water to emulsify.
4. Finish with olive oil, lemon zest, and basil.

The miso adds depth, the cashews provide creaminess, and the lemon restores brightness. The result is not a replica, but a reinterpretation that honours Nerano’s spirit — a dialogue between garden and sea.

Why It Works — The Chemistry of Comfort

At its best, Spaghetti alla Nerano is a masterclass in Italian technique disguised as simplicity.
The secret lies in the mantecatura — the final emulsification step where starch, fat, and protein merge. Pasta water contains amylose and amylopectin (starches) that bind with the fats from oil and cheese. When tossed at the right temperature — warm enough to melt, but not to split — these molecules form a natural emulsion, creating a sauce without needing cream or thickeners.

This is what makes Italian pasta cookery so refined: the science hidden inside peasant cooking. The technique predates modern culinary emulsifiers by centuries.

A Viral Revival

For decades, Spaghetti alla Nerano remained a coastal secret — loved by Neapolitans, barely known elsewhere. That changed in 2021, when actor and food writer Stanley Tucci featured it in the first season of CNN’s Searching for Italy. Sitting in the original Maria Grazia trattoria, he twirled the pasta, took a bite, and murmured: “Oh my God. This is insane.”

Within hours, searches for “Pasta alla Nerano” exploded across the internet. Every food magazine from Bon Appétit to The Guardian ran a version. Restaurants from London to Los Angeles added it to their menus, often without understanding its delicate balance.

Yet the dish’s global fame did something beautiful: it reminded people that southern Italian cooking is not only about tomatoes and seafood — it’s about transformation. The ability to turn garden courgettes into something that tastes like luxury.

Fun Facts

• Nerano is not a type of pasta but the name of the village between Sorrento and Positano where the recipe was born. Locals still call it simply spaghetti con le zucchine.
• Provolone del Monaco DOP is aged for at least six months in the caves of Vico Equense; the name (“the monk’s provolone”) comes from the cloaked coats worn by cheese traders.
• The original Maria Grazia trattoria, opened in 1901, still stands on the beach at Marina del Cantone and remains run by descendants of the founder.
• The ideal courgette is the zucchina chiara napoletana, lighter and thinner-skinned than northern varieties, with a subtle sweetness.
• According to Sorrentine lore, the first plate of Nerano was cooked for fishermen who had returned with no catch — making it one of the region’s most poetic “meatless miracles.”

Closing Reflection

Spaghetti alla Nerano captures what makes Campania extraordinary: its ability to turn simplicity into splendour.
From a few courgettes and a handful of cheese, a dish was born that now symbolises the entire Amalfi Coast — elegant, sunlit, effortless only in appearance.

When you taste it, you taste a philosophy: that excellence lies not in abundance, but in balance; that innovation can live inside tradition; that beauty often begins in poverty.
In the golden swirl of pasta and zucchini, Nerano tells the story of an entire region — one that never stopped believing in the genius of the everyday.