Sorrento: Evening Food Tour & Wine Tasting with Local Hosts

4.99

(196 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing that hit me was the smell — not just garlic or basil, but this mix of warm bread and something smoky drifting out from a tiny doorway near Piazza Tasso. That’s where we met the Gourmet Girls. They greeted us like old friends (even though I was still fumbling with my Italian), and before I knew it we were clinking glasses of Falanghina and nibbling on salty cheese while scooters zipped past outside. The light was that soft gold you only get in southern Italy at dusk. I didn’t expect to laugh so much right away, but there we were, swapping stories about our favorite pasta shapes before even sitting down properly.

We wandered through Sorrento’s backstreets — not the postcard ones, but places where locals actually eat. At one stop, our guide Chiara explained how her grandmother still rolls gnocchi by hand every Sunday (I tried to pronounce “gnocchi” right; she grinned politely). The pasta was pillowy and somehow both rich and light at once, served up family-style with a splash more white wine from Campania. There was this moment when everyone went quiet except for forks scraping plates — one of those silences that says more than any review ever could.

The main course came out next: thin slices of beef with these potatoes that had some secret spice I couldn’t place (Chiara just winked when I asked). We lingered over red wine from Vesuvio vineyards while the city started to hum louder outside. Dessert was a tiramisu with a twist — honestly, I’m still thinking about it now — then a quick nightcap at a bar where the bartender knew our guides by name. It felt less like a tour and more like being let in on someone’s nightly ritual. By the end, my feet were tired but my head was buzzing in that good way you get after too much laughter and maybe one glass too many.