Gaetano Basile
Official Ambassador for Sicily, European Region of Gastronomy awarded 2025
Writer
A Palermitan, journalist, writer, television and theater author, as well as a passionate wine gastronomer and compelling storyteller. He knows how to speak to people’s memories and hearts regardless of stereotypes and clichés. A profound scholar of the history of typical island foods, he is an honorary academician of the Italian Academy of Cuisine and a member of the Sicilian Cuisine Studies Committee. In 2011, he was awarded by the Foreign Press Association in Italy as “Best cultural popularizer of Italian gastronomy.” He has also collaborated with international network such as France 3, Yleisradio Finnish Broad. Co., France Inter, ZDF, Nippon TV, RAI and MEDIASET. In explaining why he talks about Sicily in his books, Basile does not mince words: “I talk about it because I hate it.” Yet his books are a great success precisely because of the engaging way he recounts that scorching sun-baked land, amid the vices, customs and virtues of the men of a bygone era.