Piazza dei Martiri is the belvedere that sits above Corricella, on the climb that leads up to Terra Murata: from there you see the bay from above, with the boats in a row and the houses piling up on one another. Assafà has about thirty covers between the dining room and the tables out in the square, it sits in the budget bracket, and it has the highest rating on the whole island: 4.6 out of 5 from about 150 reviews, as well as a Travellers’ Choice 2025. If you want the best ratio between what you pay and what you get put in front of you — on the plate and in the view — this is the address.
What you eat
The formula is short and that is a virtue: fresh fish antipasti, the catch of the day, house-made fritti (the fried dishes), Campanian seasonal vegetables. Thirty covers do not allow a long menu, and a short menu in a fish restaurant is almost always a good sign: it means you buy little and you finish it.
The house-made fritti are the dish to judge the kitchen on. In a tourist resort the fry-up is the handiest shortcut: it arrives frozen, you drop it in oil and nobody protests too much. Doing it in house costs time and margin, and you can taste it at the first bite — fish that stays dry, batter that does not work like a sponge.
The vegetable chapter deserves attention, because on the island it is rare. The Campanian seasonal vegetables make this address workable for people who do not eat fish, which on Procida is a serious problem: vegetarian options are flagged, and this is one of the few menus where you are not obliged to build dinner out of two side dishes. If you turn up in spring and find the local artichoke on the menu, order it: the fresh season is short, March to May.
The square, and why you eat well here
The tables in the square look out at the bay and the ridge of Terra Murata. It is not a private terrace hanging over the drop like the ones at the panoramic restaurants: it is a real square, with people going past, the scooters, the kids sitting on the low wall. I prefer it this way, but it has to be said, because some people are looking for exclusivity and here they will not find it.
The best light is in the late afternoon, when the sun catches the Corricella houses side-on and the colours come alive for half an hour. If you have come to take photographs as well, this is the hour, and this is probably the best spot on the island to do it with a plate in front of you. The walk between Terra Murata and Corricella passes exactly through here.
Thirty covers are few, and that is the practical limit: in high season, without a booking, you stay outside. The number is +39 081 314 2893.
What you spend
Budget bracket, the only one along with Fuego among the addresses in this guide. There is no published average figure, so I am not inventing one and I am not deriving it from the currency symbols on the review portals: what is documented is the bracket, and for a fish restaurant with that view it is remarkable. For comparison, the only verified price in the Corricella area is the one for Caracalé, around 40 EUR a head.
Watch out, as always, for the catch of the day: it goes by weight and it can flip the budget bracket in a moment. Ask the price per kilo and the size of the fish, or stay with antipasti, fritti and vegetables, which is in any case the way this place gives you most.
There is takeaway and delivery on the island too: useful if you have taken a house and want to eat on the terrace, or if you are out late and the kitchens are closing.
How you get there
Piazza dei Martiri is halfway up the climb that goes from the harbour to the walled village. On foot from Marina Grande it is a good twenty minutes, all uphill: the road is asphalted and there are no stairways, but you feel the height gain, especially in the middle of the day in July. The public microbus drops you straight in the square and it is the sensible solution if you are hot, or have luggage or children.
The advantage of eating here rather than down on the quay is exactly this: at Corricella you go down by steps and come back up by steps, whereas the square you reach on wheels. Anyone with walking difficulties notices this quickly on Procida, because half the island is vertical; this square is one of the few fine views that does not call for stairs.
If you are heading up towards the abbey of San Michele and the walled village, the best way to fit the day together is a late lunch in the square and the visit in the afternoon, when the sun is no longer beating down on the climb.
The accolades, in the right proportion
Assafà is cited by Lonely Planet 2025 and by the Guide du Routard 2025, as well as holding a Travellers’ Choice 2025 and the highest average on the island. These are real mentions and they should be stated. The proportion should be stated too: the reviews are about 150, against the more than a thousand for La Lampara. A high average on small numbers is less stable than a slightly lower average built on a thousand judgements. It is not a fault, it is statistics.
I will add the clarification I make everywhere on this site: no restaurant on Procida is in the Michelin Guide. If you read somewhere about stars or a Bib Gourmand on the island, the source is getting it wrong. The guides that cite Assafà are travel guides, not food guides, and that is a different thing.
The verdict
The place I recommend most often to anyone on a budget who does not want to give up either the fish or the view. You climb up on the walk, you stop in the square, you eat fritti made as they should be and you look down on Corricella, spending what you would in a pizzeria. The dining room is small, so book.
If what you want instead is the exclusive terrace, the table on the railing and the anniversary evening, the address is La Lampara. The full picture, with prices and brackets, is in the guide to Procida’s restaurants.
