Massimo Mantarro

Coming Up

The making of Massimo Mantarro reads as a progression through formal kitchens and structured training: a local catering school, then Academies in Venice and Academies in Paris, followed by early professional positions as student at Istituto Alberghiero and stagista at Sant’Andrea. The sequence matters. It shows a cook built through repetition, observation, and incremental responsibility rather than through leaps. Each stage adds another layer of kitchen discipline, and the work begins to take shape through contact with different rooms, routines, and standards. The first restaurant posts sharpened that base into practice. Massimo Mantarro worked as cook at Capo Taormina, then as cook at Gran Duca, and later as cook at San Domenico Palace in Taormina (from 1991). Those roles mark a steady rise through service kitchens, each one extending the same technical foundation into a more defined professional voice. By the time he reached Executive Chef, the craft had already been assembled piece by piece: schooling, repetition, and time spent learning how to move in a kitchen with control. Today, Massimo is Executive Chef of Principe Cerami (since 2003).

Where They Are Now

Since 2003, Executive Chef Massimo Mantarro has been at Principe Cerami in Taormina, Sicily, Italy, working in a style that favors clarity over density. The cooking reads as clean and direct, with attention to local produce and a structure that does not crowd the plate. Place is part of the method here: the sea, the land, and Mount Etna sit behind the food as working references, not decorative language. “The kitchen” for Massimo Mantarro is grounded in inheritance, but not limited by it: “Tradition fuels my thinking in the kitchen, and I innovate through cooking technique.” The point is practical. Technique is the tool that lets tradition stay active, not fixed. In that frame, old forms remain useful because they can be worked, adjusted, and carried forward without losing their structure. The producer side of the region is part of the same discipline. Massimo Mantarro has said, “I have found that every producer has their own story to tell. I think the wealth of offerings here is incredible.” That outlook places the chef inside a wider network of growers, makers, and seasonal supply. At Principe Cerami, the cuisine reflects that network through restraint, care, and precision rather than excess.

In Their Words “I have found that every producer has their own story to tell. I think the wealth of offerings here is incredible.” “Tradition fuels my thinking in the kitchen, and I innovate through cooking technique.”

Honors

Massimo's honors include One Michelin Star (Italia 2023) for Principe Cerami.