Page 15 - November2026LifeInNaples

N A P L E S / L O C A L L E G A C Y

A LITTLE

ITALY,

a Lot of Heart

FOUR GENERATIONS. ONE FAMILY RECIPE.
AN AMERICAN DREAM WITH A
DELICIOUS NEW CHAPTER IN NAPLES.
BY SAMANTHA BLOOM

There is a particular kind of happiness that comes
from discovering something wonderful close to home.
A shop you tell a friend about. A restaurant that
becomes your regular table. A family story that makes
you pause long enough to realize you are watching a
new chapter unfold.
I have always loved sharing those stories in Naples.
Usually, they begin with a walk downtown. This one
begins with a pot on a stove, a recipe carried from
Italy, and a woman named Anna.
“A jar is a small thing

to hold so much history.” Some recipes earn their place by staying exactly as they are.
That is what draws me to this story. Naples loves a local success, and so do I. We
celebrate the beautiful storefront, the new idea and the person willing to put their
In 1894, Great-Grandma Anna stirred her family’s name behind something they believe in. But a business does not have to sit on
marinara on a coal stove in Brooklyn. She had brought Fifth Avenue South to become part of the story of our community.
the recipe from Italy, carrying a familiar piece of home Sometimes, its most promising chapter is simmering a little farther up the road.
into a new life in America. Italian plum tomatoes,
cold-pressed olive oil, fresh garlic and hand-torn basil Here, that chapter reaches back across an ocean. Italian heritage found a home
went into the pot. in Brooklyn, then continued through a family whose recipe now has a place in
Southwest Florida. There is an American dream in that journey: bringing
Time did the rest.
something of yourself to a new beginning, caring for it, and giving the next
There is something lovely about imagining that generation something to carry forward.
beginning. Before dinner could be ordered from a A jar is a small thing to hold so much history.
telephone screen, before convenience became its own
food group, someone stood in a kitchen and made And yet, there it is.
something worth waiting for.
Spoon it over pasta. Add it to chicken Parmesan. Spread it onto pizza or set out a
Anna passed the recipe to her daughter. Her daughter bowl with bread for dipping. The pleasure is in making room at your own table for
passed it to hers. Four generations later, the same something another family has treasured at theirs.
sauce simmers at Parmesan Pete’s, the Southwest Della Rocca Marinara Sauce is available for purchase at Parmesan Pete’s.
Florida trattoria where regulars have been asking if Consider it an invitation to bring a little Italian heritage home, with a lovely local
they could take a jar home.
chapter tucked inside.
It is a wonderfully simple question. It is also a very After years of sharing the stories of Naples, I still find
good sign.
myself drawn to the people who give this place its
When people want to carry a little of your restaurant heart. The dreamers. The caretakers. The families
into their own kitchens, you have given them who keep something good alive long enough to share
something they would like to keep. it with the rest of us.
Now, they can. This time, they have put it in a jar.
Della Rocca Marinara Sauce brings that family recipe All we need to bring is the bread.
home in a jar, small-batch, slow-simmered and stirred
by hand. The family’s standards have traveled right
along with it: no preservatives, no fillers, no added
colors and no gum thickeners. Just the ingredients
behind a tradition that has lasted more than 130
years.

15
15e in Naples | November 2026
Lif www.LifeInNaples.net