The undisputed birthplace of pizza is Naples, Italy, where it evolved from flatbreads made with various toppings in the 17th and 18th centuries. According to legend, the famous pizza Margherita was named after Italy's Queen Margherita, who visited Naples in 1889 and enjoyed a pie made with mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil.
These days, though, you don’t have to travel to Italy to get your hands on a slice of delicious pizza, even of the award-winning variety. This year, the most prestigious spot in the global “50 Top Pizza” rankings went to Una Pizza Napoletana, a pizzeria on New York City’s Lower East Side.
The Italian organization compiles an annual list of the world’s best pizzerias, based on the experience of anonymous inspectors who spend their time tasting famous slices around the globe. The independent online guide has been published since 2017, and despite the organization’s name, the list of the world’s best pizzerias actually contains 100 establishments. The criteria include the quality and flavor of the pizza, the service and knowledgeability of the staff, cleanliness and food hygiene, ambiance and decor, flow of customers, wine and beer lists, and more. Although pizzas of any style are considered, the judges prefer those made with local, seasonal, and sustainable ingredients. (Notably, it is the pizzeria rather than the pizza that is ranked).
Una Pizza Napoletana is the brainchild of New Jersey-born owner and chef Anthony Mangieri, who first opened a pizzeria with that name nearly 30 years ago on the Jersey Shore. Since then, the restaurant has moved several times, including stints in Manhattan's East Village and San Francisco, before Mangieri launched the newest restaurant in 2022. Even before Una Pizza Napoletana topped the 50 Top Pizza global rankings, it was already an NYC institution, with diners lining up daily outside 175 Orchard Street to wait for it to open.
Mangieri has been making pizza dough since he was 15, inspired by the Neapolitan style. He continues to do so daily at Una, providing all of the dough for the pizzas that go into the pizzeria’s wood-fired ovens. The menu at Una Pizza Napoletana is simple, with a few appetizers and Marinara, Margherita, Bianca, and Cosacca pizzas as permanent staples, along with a weekly rotating pizza based on market ingredients. Homemade gelato and sorbet are among Mangieri's other passions, so it's not surprising that his restaurant also earned recognition this year for its outstanding dessert menu.
I'll take a slice:
- Second place in the 2024 50 Top Pizza Awards was a tie between Diego Vitagliano Pizzeria in Naples and I Masanielli di Francesco Martucci in Caserta, Italy. Interestingly, pizzerias in Tokyo, London, San Francisco, and Barcelona also appeared in the top 10, along with four others in Italy. Overall, 41 Italian pizzerias made the list of the world’s best, compared to 15 in the United States. Naples also bested NYC with five entries, compared to the Big Apple’s four.
- Around 150 inspectors contribute to the 50 Top Pizza rankings. They visit the establishments under strict conditions of anonymity and always pay for their meals to prevent any accusations of favoritism. Up to 30% of inspectors change every year to ensure that their identities remain secret, and they are forbidden from disclosing their activities to media publications or posting about them on social media.
- In addition to the world rankings, 50 Top Pizza publishes various lists of the best pizzerias in Italy, including takeout and pizza by the slice, as well as the best pizza restaurants in the rest of Europe, the USA, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region. There are also rankings for artisan pizza chains.
- 50 Top Pizza also awards several special prizes in collaboration with their sponsorship partners, including Pizza of the Year, Pizza Maker of the Year, Best Fried Food, Best Beer Service, Best Dessert List, and the Empower Women Fedegroup Award.
