Palmitessa is one of 15 candidates across Europe and Asia to have been nominated for the highly-coveted 'Best Spa Manager 2013' award, with the winner to be unveiled at the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris on Thursday June 20.
The Italian, who has worked in the wellness industry for more than ten years, has been the deluxe Sicilian resort's spa manager since it opened in 2010 and played a key role in helping it win Conde Nast Traveller's award for Best Overseas Day Spa within months of launching.
Palmitessa said: "To have been nominated for a second successive year for such a prestigious award is a great honour. We are very proud of everything we do at Donnafugata and we will continue to deliver a high standard of service for our guests to enjoy."
The Black Diamond Awards is an event organised by Paris-based Forum Hotel & SPA. The occasion is designed to highlight "an outstanding man or woman from the hotel and spa industry, who by a simple action or lifetime career has earned the recognition of his or her peers and thus been nominated by a panel of professionals and specialist journalists of the hotel and spa industry".
Palmitessa faces stiff competition from his peers with the 14 other nominees including five spa managers from France and one each from Portugal, Belgium, Turkey, Cyprus, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and Hong Kong.
His recognition is the latest plaudit that Donnafugata has received as it continues to forge a reputation as one of the new emerging stars in the Italian sports and leisure industry.
Also named 'Best Golf Resort in Italy in 2012' by Conde Nast Traveller magazine, Donnafugata boasts two 18-hole championship golf courses - the Links Course and the Gary Player-designed Parkland Course - with the latter being used to stage the 2011 Sicilian Open.
Located 90 minutes' drive from Catania airport, the luxurious resort lies near to the historic town of Ragusa, the cradle of Sicilian Baroque architecture, with its neighbouring towns listed among the pearls of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Modica, Scicli and Noto.
Donnafugata also offers a spa and wellness centre, swimming-pools and three restaurants and is the ideal destination for a holiday focused on sport and relaxation in a truly exclusive setting.
