The Identity of Ciccio Sultano’s Cuisine

For over 20 years, Ciccio Sultano has made the Duomo Restaurant in Ragusa Ibla a benchmark of high-end Sicilian cuisine and one of the most celebrated restaurants in Italy. He earned his first Michelin star in 2004 and secured two Michelin stars by 2006.

Study, passion, research, and composition are the foundations of his gastronomic vision. His cuisine draws from Sicily’s centuries-long culinary evolution and the diverse historical and cultural influences that have shaped the island. He reimagines them through a contemporary lens, extracting and elevating their essence while avoiding the merely decorative.

Sultano describes his philosophy like this:

“Sicily is a concentration of millennia-old culture and a unique geological and gastronomic diversity, shaped by brilliance, contradiction, and struggle. Its history lives in its food. What may seem unusual to others is everyday life for us, the sweet and sour, the bitter, the sweet, the salty, all together. A mix of flavors, cultures, and moments full of complexity.”

His cuisine moves between land and sea, memory and travel, high culture and street culture, monumental past and the challenges of the present, always guided by a delicate touch.

“When you love something, you treat it with care. You want to possess it, but also let it live,” he says. “We’re not afraid of change, because our roots run deep.”

Ciccio Sultano began his culinary journey at the age of 13, working part-time in a pastry shop in Vittoria. His natural curiosity and boundless enthusiasm quickly caught the attention of the owners, turning that part-time job into a seven-year apprenticeship.

Later, he joined a local spaghetti house that gained great success, and his culinary talent was soon noticed. Encouraged by early recognition, he began to dream of opening his own restaurant in Sicily. But first, he realized the need to specialize further abroad.

In 1995, he moved to Germany for a time, and in 1997 to New York, where he worked in the kitchens of renowned restaurateur, author, and TV host Lidia Bastianich. Still, Sicily called to him, its bounty of high-quality products and the generosity of its people were irreplaceable. Back in Ragusa, he fulfilled his dream in 2000 by opening his first restaurant:

Duomo. Four years later, it was awarded its first Michelin star, and two years after that, the second.

Inspired by traditional market stalls offering bread, cheese, cured meats, sweets, and wine, a new concept took shape. In 2015, Sultano opened “I Banchi,” a modern take on a traditional Sicilian trattoria.

In 2018, Sultano expanded beyond Sicily for the first time, opening Pastamara inside the Ritz-Carlton in Vienna, near the iconic Ringstrasse. Named after the “pasta amara” made with cacao beans, the restaurant serves a Sicilian-inspired menu all day, from breakfast to dinner.

In 2019, Cantieri Sultano opened next to Duomo, a multifunctional space for experimentation, masterclasses, aperitifs, and late-night gatherings. Creativity and conviviality are at the heart of Cantieri. Autumn 2021 saw the debut of Cucina Educata, his restaurant Giano inside Italy’s first W Hotel (Marriott International) in Rome, offering a cuisine that is at once monastic, aristocratic, bourgeois, and rustic, blending traditional ingredients with contemporary flair.

In July 2023, I Banchi by Ciccio Sultano also landed at Palermo Airport, bringing his vision of Sicilian food to travelers from around the world.