Perched on the cliffs between Amalfi and Positano in Italy, Monastero Santa Rosa is sharpening its culinary identity for the new season with the launch of an updated dinner menu at its Michelin-starred restaurant, Il Refettorio.

At the helm is Executive Chef Alfonso Crescenzo, whose latest offering reflects a regional approach to fine dining. Rooted in the rhythms of the surrounding land and sea, the menu draws on daily catches from local fishermen, produce harvested from the monastery’s terraced gardens, and olive oil sourced from groves south of Rome.

The kitchen offers an experience guided by the rhythms of the seasons and the abundance of the vegetable garden alongside carefully sourced local ingredients. As the harvest evolves, so too does the menu, ensuring that only the freshest produce is featured. From house-made wholegrain bread and pasta to delicate pastries and ice creams, every element reflects a respect for seasonality, regional culinary heritage and the understated simplicity inspired by the nuns’ original recipes.

Guests can choose to dine à la carte or opt for one of two tasting experiences: a five-course selection of signature plates, or a seven-course chef’s menu designed to showcase the full breadth of the kitchen’s vision.

Highlights from the new menu include L’Orto del Monastero, a vegetable-led antipasto featuring asparagus, peas and hazelnut mousse and house-made ‘ndunderi’ pasta with squid ragù and cuttlefish ink. Second plates range from seared turbot in a rich grouper broth to slow-cooked pork shank with smoked potatoes and apple compote, alongside an Agerola beef fillet served with foie gras cream and pickled shallots. There’s also a seven-year aged Acquerello rice whisked with peas and cow milk stracciata and topped with baccalà and Sichuan pepper.

 “My relationship with food began long before any professional kitchen – watching my grandmother cook for the whole family in the village of Sarno, where my family still farms their own Terre Lavorate produce using the exacting, uncompromising practices of biological farming,” Crescenzo comments. “That foundation sent me around the world in pursuit of technique and inspiration, but it is here, in my native Campania, that everything comes together. Tradition and craft, land and sea, memory and mastery, all on one plate.”