Chef Ciccio Sultano has distinguished himself with his authentic and innovative cooking. After starting work at a young age, he has gained extensive professional experience in the kitchen. He has received Two MICHELIN Stars and, in addition to his restaurants, he is a teacher and a highly appreciated interpreter of Sicilian cuisine.
Ciccio Sultano was born in Turin in 1970, to a family originally from Gela, Sicily. At just 9 years old, after the death of his father, he started working in the countryside, and at 13 and a half he left his job as a bricklayer and found employment at the "Pasticceria Suite di Vittoria" in the province of Ragusa. There, he carried out various duties, from the American bar to pastry preparations, for a good 7 years, becoming known as "Ciccio Suite".
In 1994, Ciccio took on the role of executive chef at a renowned restaurant near Munich, Germany, where he specialized in the preparation of red meats. After four years, he moved to New York, to the prestigious "Felidia", alongside Lidia Bastianich and Fortunato Nicotra. His aspirations, however, led him to move from the East Coast to the West, working between Las Vegas and Los Angeles at the refined "Valentino" by Piero Selvaggio.
Drawn back by his affection for his homeland, Ciccio returned to Sicily in 2000 where he started the "Duomo" in Ragusa. In just a few years, the restaurant, carefully focused on enhancing traditional flavors, gained recognition from international specialized press. The fundamental principles of valuing and rediscovering the territory characterize Ciccio's culinary thought and the cooking of the "Duomo", which was awarded Two MICHELIN Stars. In the book "La mia cucina siciliana" ("My Sicilian Kitchen") published in 2005 by Gambero Rosso, Ciccio Sultano masterfully summarized this approach.
Over the years he also initiated other projects such as in 2015, "I Banchi", a bakery-pastry shop-restaurant that allows you to taste the authentic and genuine flavors of Sicily. Sultano's signature is unmistakable, and makes the place another destination for lovers of good food.
Later, in collaboration with his wife Gabriella Cicero, the chef opened the restaurant "Pastamara" inside the elegant Ritz-Carlton in Vienna, and the restaurant "Giano" at the "Hotel W" in Rome.
In addition to being busy in the kitchens of his restaurants, Ciccio Sultano often lends his experience to prestigious chairs. He is an Italcook professor for Slow Food in Jesi, a teacher at the Culinary Institute of America and the Alma school in Parma, as well as a member of the examination commissions at the hotel institutes of Modica and Gela.
"I consider myself a chef, the one who transforms products into food, using all five senses with a preference for taste and touch. Through tasting and touch, the first impressions are known and processed. Subsequently, the mind also comes into play, but direct contact is the first element, a physicality that characterizes my cooking", says Ciccio Sultano, who is considered one of the most authentic interpreters of Sicilian cuisine.
