Pietro D'Agostino

This is the story of a blackcap bird, landed on via Nazionale in Taormina, after taking off from a dusty book of Giovanni Verga: «I had seen a poor blackcap trapped in a cage: she was shy, sad, sick; staring at us with scared eyes, trying to hide in the corner of her cage», used to write the famous Italian writer from Catania. It was 2003 when the chef Pietro D’Agostino set her free, naming his restaurant Capinera (“blackcap”) after he himself had flown for a long time before landing in Taormina.

36 years old, passionate ambassador of Sicilian cuisine, Pietro attended the most important culinary academy of the island before starting a very intense and well stepped international career: London, Rome, Costarica, Florida, Turin. A real tourbillion widely accompanied by participation to gastronomic and cultural high profile events, like the dinner at the Fiera del Libro he cooked for famous writers Andrea Camilleri and Dacia Maraini and the stimulating meetings with international chefs in the Salone del Gusto days.

But migration did have to end: in 2002 Pietro went back home to manage a 14 people crew at the restaurant Gattopardo, hosted by Grand Hotel Mazzarò Sea Palace, above the enchanting Mazzarò bay. After acting the role of Sicilian cuisine ambassador in Arizona, he finally posed his net in Taormina, where he started cooking local recipes filtered with personal creativity.

As a Jeunes restaurateurs d’Europe member, Pietro is constantly chasing elite, local, natural and biological products, above all Nebrodi mountains ricotta and cheeses, Brolo salami, Ustica lentils, Salina capers, Noto almonds, Modica chocolate and extraordinary olive oils and wines, used to enrich gluten free and vegetarian menus too. A hometown comeback to the roots of nostalgia: Sicily regained on the Capinera terrace, between Etna volcano, olive trees and the Ionian sea.