DOMENICO COLONNETTA
AND
FRANCESCO PATTI
Domenico Colonnetta and Francesco Patti go back a long way. Growing up, cooking was a strong vocation for both, and in their early careers they acquired valuable experience in some of Sicily’s finest restaurants, until their paths finally crossed at the Duomo restaurant in the southern city of Ragusa Ibla.
They completed their training under two Michelin star chef Ciccio Sultano, until, reaching full personal and professional maturity, they set out on their own.
In 2008, before they had even turned 30, they opened Ristorante Coria in the ancient centre of Caltagirone, southwest of Catania. So began a partnership based on a solid foundation of friendship and respect, and on the shared desire to stake everything on their skill and vision of contemporary fine dining in Sicily.
Beginning with the name of the restaurant, the philosophy proposed by the two young chefs has been clear from the outset. The tribute to Colonel Giuseppe Coria, Sicily’s legendary gastronome who collected and shared traditional Sicilian recipes in his famous book Profumi di Sicilia, is also a declaration of intent: to perpetuate the island’s gastronomic heritage, reinventing it in a gourmet key.
“My cooking draws inspiration from everything around me. Sometimes a particular scent, or the sight of a fruit or a wild herb
growing will bring to mind a sense of the past, of cooking from years gone by.
I jot these ideas down in a notebook and then I work on them to transform them into an idea for a new dish.”
FRANCESCO PATTI
The critics and fans were unanimous from day one: in 2012, just four years after opening, Coria was consecrated among the international names of fine dining with the award of a prestigious Michelin Star.
In 2013, Colonnetta and Patti added a second line of business to their Michelin-starred restaurant: Squiseating Banqueting. This too was based in Caltagirone, and very quickly affirmed itself as a fine dining destination both in Sicily and throughout Italy for the quality of its ingredients, the professional service and the signature cuisine created by its two chefs.
After 15 years consolidating the restaurant’s reputation and refining its increasingly unique and distinctive style in Caltagirone’s small historic centre, 2024 signalled a new turn: the transfer of Coria to the heart of Catania, the city at the foot of Etna.
For Colonnetta and Patti this was the start of an ambitious undertaking: to transfer their idea of fine dining to a bigger and more visible stage, embracing the diverse influences that come from a buzzing metropolitan city in continual transformation and at the same time maintaining a clear identity consistent with their previous experience.
This was the creation of the new Ristorante Coria in Catania: a story written, as always, as a duet.
“For me, being a chef is a way of expressing my creativity. I love working with my hands, not only with food but also with wood and other materials. I love to create something new from the raw material. In the kitchen, that means experimenting, forging, transforming,
until the image I have in mind emerges.”
