The Chiaiolella is the other Procida: the small harbour at the southern end of the island, the bay closed off by the Santa Margherita headland and, behind it, the outline of Vivara. Da Mariano is on the marina, at number 32, and looks out at exactly that. The reason to come all this way, though, is not the view: it is the pasta with cicarelle, the local wedge clams, which you will struggle to find at Marina Grande. The travellers’ rating is 4.4 out of 5 from about 480 reviews.
The cicarelle, and why they are the right dish
Cicarelle are wedge clams: tiny molluscs that live in the sand a few metres from the shore. Next to a vongola they are minuscule, sweeter and far more tedious to clean, which is why in plenty of restaurants they do not even try. They are also something deeply local: they are gathered on sandy bottoms like the ones in front of the Chiaiolella beach and the Ciraccio.
The dish is necessarily simple: pasta, cicarelle, garlic, oil, parsley, and the liquid from the molluscs, which becomes the sauce. There is nothing to hide behind, and that is why on a seafood menu it is always worth ordering the barest thing. If you have come as far as the Chiaiolella and order the usual pasta alle vongole, you have wasted the journey.
The other house speciality is the ravioli stuffed with aubergine: fresh pasta, a filling from the land, in a seafood restaurant. It is the choice for anyone at the table who does not eat fish, and on Procida — where the average menu is all sea — that is as useful a piece of information as a review.
Gluten free: what we know and what we do not
Gluten-free options are flagged for this address, and on an island where most of the kitchens are small and family-run that is not a given. It has to be said precisely, though: "gluten-free options" does not mean a certified kitchen or the absence of contamination. If you have diagnosed coeliac disease, the phone call beforehand is compulsory: ask how they handle the pasta, the fryer and the surfaces.
It is the kind of check that is worth making anywhere, but doubly so here: in a fish restaurant a shared fryer is the norm, and floured paranza for frying goes through the same oil as everything else. Asking is not rudeness; it is how you avoid ruining your holiday.
Where it is and how you get there
The Chiaiolella is on the opposite side from the ferry harbour: from the quay at Marina Grande you reach it by public microbus in about fifteen minutes, or on foot in about forty along the road that crosses the island. In summer the bus is full and comes when it comes: if you have a table booked, set off early. The page on getting around Procida explains the alternatives.
Once you have arrived you are on the flat, on the marina, with no steps: it is the easiest part of the island for anyone who has trouble walking or is travelling with a pushchair, the opposite of Corricella. And it is also the starting point of the walk towards Vivara, which is best done in the late afternoon, after lunch.
What you spend
Mid bracket. For Da Mariano there is no published average figure that I can verify, so I am not writing one: in this area the only verified price is the one for Da Girone, a few dozen metres further along, between 20 and 40 EUR a head. Take it as the order of magnitude for the marina, not as this restaurant’s bill.
The catch of the day is by weight, as everywhere: price per kilo and size of the fish, before you order. The cicarelle, on the other hand, are a first course, so the bill stays predictable if you build the table around a shared starter and a first course each.
On opening hours and seasonality I have no verified data and I am leaving the fields empty. The island’s general rule applies: between November and March Procida closes a great deal, and the Chiaiolella — which lives off the beach season more than Marina Grande does — shuts down first. Outside summer, ring +39 081 896 7350 before you get on the bus.
Dining at the Chiaiolella instead of Corricella
They are two different evenings and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. Corricella is the village for photographs: coloured houses, boats, tight tables and, in August, a quay full at every sitting. The Chiaiolella is a modern marina, with the long beach behind it and far fewer people in the evening. It does not have the postcard; it has the space.
For anyone staying on the island more than a day, the sensible sequence is this: the scenic evening at Corricella, the quiet one here. The light, then, works in the Chiaiolella’s favour: the sun sets on the side of the Vivara headland, so from this marina you actually see the sunset, whereas at Corricella the sun disappears behind the ridge much earlier.
One last practical argument: timings. If you have the ferry in the evening, dining here is a risk, because you depend on the microbus to get back to the harbour. In that case stay at Marina Grande, where you eat a couple of steps from the ticket office.
The verdict
It is worth the journey to the other side of the island if you order the right things: cicarelle, aubergine ravioli, the catch. It is a traditional restaurant with a bit of technique in the kitchen, on a marina that in the evening is far quieter than the Corricella quay, and with a view that, without making the postcard, is genuinely fine.
If you are at the Chiaiolella and looking for the cooking of the limone pane — the only truly Procidan thing you can eat — the right address is the other one, though: Da Girone does the linguine with lemon pesto and the insalata di limoni. In two evenings you can do both. The full comparison is in the guide to Procida’s restaurants.
