It all began...
Since 1960...
A galleon on mainland: Il Pirata, a restaurant overlooking the sea on the Amalfi Coast!
1960s, Casimiro Milano was a citrus fruit trader. He took them from the coast to the general market in Rome. Hard work, and not even profitable. But in those years there wasn't much choice. The common jobs was fishing, agriculture and trade. Tourism only affected Positano and Amalfi. Praiano was an unknown village, with one exception: The Africana, a night club in a cave overlooking the sea next to a Saracen watchtower. A unique location, which has become a reference point for the Dolce Vita of the Neapolitan area.
A very risky idea came to Casimiro: to buy a piece of mountain near the Africana, on the other side of the tower and just ahead of the beach of La Praia, and open a bar for us. He had no experience. Nor did his wife Pasqualina, a young Neapolitan girl whom he had met during his visits to his financier uncle. “I came from Naples to help my aunt” - Pasqualina tells - “Casimiro hid behind a fig tree and stayed to look at me. I liked him, he was a good boy and in October 1960 we got married ”. Pasqualina was a seamstress. And she knew nothing about bars. But she liked the idea too.
Finding the 4 million lire to pay to the owner of the land was the easiest part, as that money would not have given him a bar, but a mountain. “To make the bar it took first the gunpowder, for the initial excavation, and then months of pickaxe shots” Casimiro recalls. Even in the most difficult moments, when the storms were more threatening, Casimiro never doubted that he had made a mistake. Indeed, the more time passed, the more he became convinced that he wanted to move forward. The transition from bar to restaurant was as casual as it was natural.
It all started from their children's need not to eat sandwiches every day, and so Pasqualina asked Casimiro to buy a small kitchen and began cooking for his family. The fishermans who came to that place, began to ask her to be able to have the same dishes, although she advised them to go and eat in the famous restaurant "Da Luca", right next door. But nothing to do! Pasqualina and Casimiro were afraid of doing a wrong to Luca Milano by starting to cook next to him, despite having the license to do so. One day a fisherman client brought her some Purpitielli (small octopuses) and insistently asked her to make a spaghetti meal. It was the beginning of many spaghetti and more!
Wanting to make a restaurant, it was necessary to find a name. It was Casimiro who thought so. With the watchtower a few meters away, it came natural to think of the figure that over the centuries had been the most feared by his fellow villagers. "The choice was between "Saraceno" and "Pirata" and I chose the second" - he tells us - "because: the Saracens are forced to defend themselves while the Pirates attack and come from the sea to conquer the lands and we have conquered ours!"
And nowadays...
continues
Now Casimiro is proudly acts as a lifeguard, while Pasqualina, always with smile, continues to prepare his famous potato croquettes with his ancient Neapolitan recipe!
Today at the helm of the galleon are the sons Rino and Vera.
While aft there is a clientele from all over the world and there are still to welcome them
Casimiro and Pasqualina!
The Interview
Casimiro & Pasqualina