MY LIFE AT DON CAMILLO
Chef Giovanni Guarneri
Cooking Chef and Professional Sommelier, I was born in Palermo on 12/02/1963. In 1985, I founded the restaurant Don Camillo in the historical city center of Siracusa, Ortigia. I have been its Chef since then. Son of a cook myself, I have inherited the gastronomic sensitivity from my father Camillo, who taught me the basis of traditional Mediterranean cuisine. From 1988 to 1992, I took part in several gastronomic competitions organized by the Italian Cooks Federation, obtaining remarkable results.
Within these, it is worth to mention the Star competition with the cooks of 1988 and the "Prix culinaire Pierre Taittinger" 1989 (finalist at only 25 years old, which was the minimum age of participation). I won the "Grana Padano per Ristoratori", a success which I hold dear in my memories, for I link it to Italy’s victory at the World Cup "Italia '90". Another pleasant memory within this time frame is 1992, when two dishes of mine simultaneously reached the final at the competition "Ristorazione più".
In my long career, I have taught Sicilian gastronomy and cuisine in state schools, professional schools and at the Hilton Hotel in Tokyo Bay. I represented the cuisine of Sicily in Sweden, Japan, Russia and lectured Sicilian cooking classes in California at the “Viva" school of Italian culture.
From 2013 to 2015, I represented Sicily in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the week of Italian regional cuisine organized by the Ministry of Foreign Trade together with the Italian Academy of Cuisine.
Since 1989, Don Camillo has been mentioned by the prestigious Michelin guide as well as all the most important gastronomic guides, such as L'Espresso, Gambero Rosso, Veronelli, Slow Food, Touring club, Panorama, Accademia italiana della Cucina (Good Cuisine Award 1997 and Silver Plate). Today, any guide writing about Siracusa mentions Don Camillo and its Chef's cuisine.
In 1999, I was invited to the biennial of young artists in Rome. Thanks to the success of the menu I had presented in that occasion, Gambero Rosso Channel dedicated me an episode of the program "Profiles of the Great Chefs". I have been receiving invitations from major national and international televisions since then. Indeed, I have presented my cuisine on numerous channels of Italian TV, such as Rai 1, Rai2, Rete 4 and Discovery Channel. I have also prepared my delicacies for the Japanese, French, German, Canadian and Czech television.
I am regularly invited to major Italian gastronomic events, such as Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre, as well as gastronomic workshops, theme discussions, dinners and awards. Additionally, I am the first ambassador of the lemon of Siracusa and other local products.
Together with a group of colleagues, I am one of the founders of "Le Soste di Ulisse”, reference of Sicilian gastronomy since 2002.
A crucial achievement of my professional career has been the victory in 2002, of the Caseus prize for the best cheese selection of Italy. I have proudly reaped the title by presenting exclusively Sicilian cheeses from raw milk - back then basically unknown, with personal combinations created for each one of them.
The same year, I became a certified professional sommelier (AIS - Italian Sommelier Association). Few years later, in 2006, I won the second prize (just a point away from the first!) for the best wine list for restaurants of FIPE (Italian Federation of Public Exercises) at MiWine. This was another milestone of my career.
In 2015, celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Don Camillo, I published the book "Cu mancia fa Muddichi", which literally translates into " Who eats makes crumbles”. Inspired by this old Sicilian proverb, I narrated all the nuances of thirty years spent cooking for people from all over the world who have honored my table and left crumbles on it, a metaphor for memories.
This was truly hard work! Among a dozen of boxes full of newspapers, accumulated over many years of activity, I have selected the pages that concern me and divided them by year. So many memories have come back to mind. Click on the photo to open the collections divided by year; Enjoy the gallery.
Magic Moments
Since Smartphone Took Over
Before Smartphones My Customers Used to Leave Dedications
UNDER CONSTRUCTION