# Ciccio Sultano

> For more than 20 years Ciccio Sultano has made Ristorante Duomo in Ragusa Ibla the benchmark of Sicilian haute cuisine and one of the most closely…

Original page: https://www.scuolatessieri.com/ciccio-sultano/

Ristorante Duomo in Ragusa, two Michelin stars

For more than 20 years Ciccio Sultano has made **Ristorante Duomo** in Ragusa Ibla the benchmark of Sicilian haute cuisine and one of the most closely followed restaurants in Italy, with its first star won in 2004 and **2 Michelin stars** pinned to his jacket as early as 2006. Study, passion, research and composition are the keys to his gastronomic vision, which draws on the **centuries-old evolution of Sicily** and of the historical and cultural influences that have followed one another there, recomposing them with contemporary dynamism, capturing and enhancing their essence without falling into mere decoration.

Of his vision, Ciccio says: “Sicily is the concentration of a **thousand-year-old culture**, of a diversity both geological and gastronomic that has grown in splendour, contradiction and suffering. It **conveys its history in its dishes**, so much so that what is strange for many cultures is everyday for us; like sweet-and-sour or bitter, sweet and salty all together, a **mingling of flavours**, cultures and moments that are interesting and highly complex.”

Ciccio Sultano’s cuisine is **always in motion** between land and sea, between memories of home and travels, between high culture and street culture, between a monumental past and a present still to be won, between feeling and reasoning, but always with a **delicate touch**. Those who love respect things, want them for themselves, yet live. “ **We are not afraid of change**,” Sultano stresses, “because our roots run deep.”

The young Sultano began his experience in the world of cooking at just **thirteen**, when he took a part-time job at a **pastry shop in Vittoria**. Gifted with natural curiosity and boundless enthusiasm, he immediately attracted the owners’ attention, and the occasional job turned into a **seven-year apprenticeship**.

Having joined the staff of a **local spaghetteria**, which consequently enjoyed enormous success, Ciccio was appreciated for his culinary interpretations. Encouraged by this early recognition, he began to feel the desire to **open a restaurant of his own in Sicily**.

First, however, he realised he needed to gain greater **specialisation abroad**. In 1995 he moved for a time to Germany and then, in 1997, to New York, joining the kitchens of the restaurateur, author and television host **Lidia Bastianich**. But he missed Sicily – the abundance and quality of the island’s produce, the generosity of spirit of its people – like the air he breathed. Back in his home city of Ragusa, in 2000 he fulfilled his dream of opening his **first restaurant, Duomo**. In 2004 came the first Michelin star, followed two years later by the second.

Inspired by the simple, traditional stalls set up by small producers for bread, cheese, salami, pastry and wine, a new concept took shape. In 2015 Ciccio Sultano opened **I Banchi**, a **contemporary take on a traditional trattoria**.

In 2018 Ciccio opened for the first time beyond the borders of his beloved Sicily: **Pastamara at the Ritz-Carlton**, on the iconic Ringstrasse in **Vienna**, a short walk from the famous Staatsoper. With a name derived from the “pasta amara” made from cocoa beans, the restaurant offers a **taste of Sicily** throughout the day, from breakfast to dinner.

The year 2019 saw the opening of **Cantieri Sultano**, a multifunctional space right next to Duomo: a workshop for experiments and masterclasses, a lounge for aperitifs and after-dinner drinks; creativity and conviviality are at home at Cantieri. Autumn 2021 opened with the arrival of Ciccio’s Cucina Educata in Rome. The **restaurant Giano**, in the first W Hotel (part of Marriott International) in Italy, offers a peasant, monastic, aristocratic and bourgeois cuisine that unites traditional ingredients with contemporary influences. In July 2023, I Banchi di Ciccio Sultano landed at **Palermo Airport**.