On Monday, 5 October 2026, ZEST, the restaurant of the Grand Hotel La Favorita in Sorrento, will host a four-hands dinner with Domenico Iavarone and Nino Di Costanzo.
The evening opens the "Zest & Friends" project, presented as a series of meetings with chefs and figures from contemporary cooking. For its first edition, the dialogue is between Campania's mainland and its islands: Iavarone's contemporary Campanian cooking at ZEST meets the cooking of Di Costanzo, chef of Dani Maison in Ischia.
Di Costanzo's restaurant is described by its official site as a two-star restaurant in the Michelin Guide Italia 2024. Michelin describes Dani Maison as the chef's family house in Ischia, with a complex, rigorous and inventive cuisine.
The menu announced
The announced menu begins with the sea, in two courses signed by Di Costanzo, followed by the courses of Iavarone.
In order, the dinner is announced as:
- Two seafood courses by Nino Di Costanzo
- Risotto with white fig, escarole and olives, by Domenico Iavarone
- Tortello alla genovese, by Domenico Iavarone
- Lamb with eggplant, mozzarella, lichens and pine nuts
- Dessert of rice with vanilla, pineapple, mango and passion fruit
The research does not document whether the event later took place as announced, or whether there were changes to the menu. Readers should treat the lineup as announced ahead of 5 October 2026.
The setting: ZEST at La Favorita
ZEST is presented by the hotel as the restaurant of the Grand Hotel La Favorita, led by chef Domenico Iavarone, with cooking based on tradition, technique and product quality.
An earlier presentation of the restaurant describes it as contemporary Campanian cooking, in a hotel setting characterized by citrus gardens, a majolica terrace and a new cellar. That context is useful for understanding the choice of a "Zest & Friends" opening: a Sorrento dining room rooted in local ingredients hosting a guest chef from Ischia.
The guest: Dani Maison in Ischia
For readers who have not been to Ischia, the background on Dani Maison helps explain the pairing.
The restaurant is set in Di Costanzo's family house in Ischia. Its official presentation and the Michelin guide entry converge on the same profile: a technically accomplished, sophisticated cuisine linked to Campanian memory and culture.
The guide's emphasis on complexity and rigor, and the house's emphasis on its two stars in the 2024 Italian guide, frame what Di Costanzo brings to Sorrento: not a generic seafood opening, but the Ischia side of contemporary Campanian fine dining. The situation regarding any later Michelin edition was not verified in the research.
Practical details
The dinner is scheduled for 20:00 at ZEST, Grand Hotel La Favorita, Via Torquato Tasso 61, Sorrento.
The price indicated in the announcement is 220 euros per person, including five glasses of Champagne Palmer.
No independent confirmation of seat availability or reservations was included in the research. Anyone planning to attend should confirm directly with the restaurant or hotel that places remain available and that the date, time, menu and pairing are unchanged.
