Michelin-Starred ‘Quattro Passi’ Restaurant in Nerano Seized Over Alleged Illegal Construction
Nerano, January 30, 2026 – The prestigious ‘Quattro Passi’ restaurant in Nerano, a municipality in Massa Lubrense, has been preventatively seized following an order signed by the investigating judge (GIP) of the Torre Annunziata Court. The establishment, currently the only one in Southern Italy to boast three Michelin stars, is accused of illegal building and land subdivision. The prosecution alleges that over approximately forty years, a rural and wooded area was transformed into a commercial settlement without the necessary permits, replacing what was once an olive grove with an abusive complex.
The measure, requested by the Torre Annunziata Public Prosecutor’s Office, led by prosecutor Nunzio Fragliasso, which hypothesizes the crime of illegal building for construction purposes, was executed this morning by the Carabinieri of the Sorrento Company.
A Celebrity Hotspot Under Investigation
Known globally for its culinary excellence, ‘Quattro Passi’ has been a magnet for VIPs vacationing between Capri, Positano, and Sorrento. The restaurant, founded by chef Antonio Mellino and his wife, and now managed with their son, even catered Jeff Bezos’ lavish wedding in Venice. In February of last year, the restaurant was also featured in an episode of the 14th edition of the popular program MasterChef Italia.
However, investigations conducted by the Operational Unit of the Carabinieri’s mobile radio unit of the Sorrento Company, and coordinated by the Torre Annunziata Prosecutor’s Office, currently suggest serious irregularities.
Decades of Alleged Abuses
The inquiry, which began in July 2025 and benefited from technical consultancy, reportedly uncovered a series of building abuses dating from 1982 until October 2025. These alleged abuses allowed the suspects to create “the massive real estate complex intended for restaurant activities and ancillary services, in the absence of legitimate building permits and in an area subject to strict landscape and environmental constraints,” and at hydrogeological risk.
According to investigators, there was “a at least negligent conduct by the Municipality of Massa Lubrense, which, over the years, had issued illegitimate amnesty provisions, as they were flawed by macroscopic irregularities, having been issued not only decades after the requests, but above all in the absence of legal and factual prerequisites.” The properties, the Prosecutor’s Office maintains, “had been built abusively, as also emerged from checks by the Municipal Police.”
In recent days, with the restaurant closed for its winter break, the Municipality of Massa Lubrense had already requested the restoration of the sites, including the swimming pool, underground cellar, and suites.
Defense Argues Against Land Subdivision Allegations
Attorney Giro Sepe, who represents the owners of the hospitality structure, stated, “With this measure, the Prosecutor’s Office and the investigating judge have re-evaluated ex post a series of abuses that were rectified almost fifty years ago. These are individual interventions, largely rectified and pardoned, reviewed years later as a single land subdivision scheme. We trust in the Review, also because legal and factual positions should consolidate, and one cannot remain in limbo for so many years. We are talking about some interventions that were evaluated and rectified, while amnesties from 1985 and 1992 have also been questioned. We will appeal because it was not an ongoing land subdivision.”
The restaurant’s closure for winter holiday coincided with the legal developments, with the future of the acclaimed establishment now subject to further legal proceedings.
Source: Corriere del Mezzogiorno
