Donato De Santis
Italian chef and television presenter based in Argentina
Biography
Donato De Santis is an Italian chef who specializes in the cuisine of his home country and has lived in Buenos Aires since 2000. His profile combines professional kitchen work with a broad television career, which has made him one of the most recognizable figures in Argentine food culture on screen.
Born in Milan in 1964, he grew up between that city and Apulia, the region in southern Italy where his family came from. He studied gastronomy at the state school Carlo Porta in Milan and began working in professional kitchens in 1980, under chef Georges Cogny at L'Antica Ostería del Teatro in Piacenza. He later worked in restaurants in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Chicago, Palm Beach and Miami, where he helped open Bice, and was hired as chef for Gianni Versace at his Casa Casuarina mansion in Miami Beach.
In 2000 he settled in Buenos Aires, where he taught and ran the kitchen at Verace for two years. In February 2005 he opened his own restaurant, Cucina Paradiso. He has published four cookbooks and hosted programs on El Gourmet and other channels. He has been a judge on MasterChef Celebrity since 2020 and, in 2026, announced his retirement from the franchise after the final of its fourth season. His legacy lies largely in bringing Italian cooking to Argentine classrooms and television.
Key contributions
- Cucina Paradiso, the Buenos Aires restaurant he founded in 2005 and which gives its name to his culinary project.
- Fatto in Casa, an Italian cookbook awarded a Gourmand prize in 2005 as the best Italian cookbook in Latin America.
- Donato per Bambini, a recipe book for children and families, honored with a Gourmand award in 2006.
- Donato Cucina and La Villa della Pasta, El Gourmet programs that brought Italian cooking to Argentine audiences.
- His work as a judge on MasterChef and Dueños de la cocina, which made him known to a wide audience.