" Moving to America was the hight ambition of most people living in Positano long time ago " . Between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the Rispoli family moved to New York to make fortune. When Salvatore Rispoli returned to Italy , before the Great War (1915-1918) , he was able to buy a wing of a building that was by the Main Beach of Positano where he started a new business that he later improved.
A heterogeneous group of free, eccentric, light-hearted, foreign artists, all fond of art and white wine, used to meet night-time by the beach at the Buca di Bacco, known at that time as "Flavio Gioia Cafè" (the inner part) and "Cambrinus" (the external area). Later a big old cave, situated under the Flavio Gioia Cafè, was prepared for winter meetings for all Positano artists. The vault was covered completely with drawing paper and each artist painted a piece of his own country, his dreams, his fantasy. The name "Cambrinus" had already disappeared and the name "Flavio Gioia Cafè" was not charming. 'Wine'- 'Cave'- 'Bacchus' were more appropriate: that’s why the name "Buca di Bacco", that means "Bacchus' Cave", was instead given to the place for ever.
The one that till then was only used as a cellar became, thanks to Giulio Rispoli, the haunt for famous personalities. Today, this historical place of meeting and inspiration is still the heart of the social life of the town with the Restaurant " La Pergola " and the Bar "Buca di Bacco" together with the Wine Bar and Art Gallery "Conwinum" and its colourful harmony that reminds its glorious artistic past. About the choice of the name, we can go back to the painter Carli Sohn Rethel who took an ancient chipped cup that he fixed and placed in a niche where after Kurt Kraemer put his sign:" After twenty-eight centuries, the real cup that Bacchus used to teach the art of wine drinking is beaming here where it has been found".
Today it is still possible to relax and stay in the shadow of a rich pergola in the very heart of the famous "Piazzetta dei Leoni", directly on the Main Beach of Positano.
" La Pergola " is not only Restaurant in Positano, but also more else coming from the most famous Bar "Buca di Bacco". In fact it is also Bar and Wine Bar with the possibility of experiencing "wine tasting" and also of sipping excellent wines by glass thanks to the modern technology of the nitrogen machine (such as Chardonnay, Pinot, Fiorduva, Chianti, Aglianico, Brunello, Tignanello, Taurasi...), Pizzeria (with more than 15 kinds of pizza, all of them strictly baked in wood stove), handmade ice cream and pastry store (with the possibility of reserving personalized cakes for special occasions or tipical pastries from the local tradition as Babà or Lemon Delizia ), Creperie, Rotisserie and even more!
Positano made the history of the tourism on the Amalfi Coast from the dawn of time as it is proved by the recent archaeological findings of a Roman Villa very close to the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, the Main Church of the town.
These findings were made possible also thanks to the Vesuvio, that covered with his ashes all the area during his last eruption, maintaining them well conserved.
" Buca di Bacco" Bar and " La Pergola " Restaurant are waiting to be your reference points among thousands of inviting proposals.