The best pizza in the world is not a slice. It is a whole pie, eaten where it was made, by someone who has thought harder about dough than most chefs think about anything. This is our editorial pick of the pizzerias worth crossing a city, or a country, for in 2026.
We weighed the live 50 Top Pizza rankings, Michelin recognition and our own eating against one test: would we book a flight for this pie? The roll-call below leads with Naples and Campania, still the gravitational centre of the form, then ranges across Rome, New York, the Bay Area and beyond. For each room we name the maker, the pie to order, the neighbourhood and what it costs. For city-level detail, see our guides to the best pizza in New York, Rome and Chicago, and the full best pizza restaurants worldwide hub.
1. Pepe in Grani — Caiazzo, Italy
"Franco Pepe's out-of-town pilgrimage pizzeria, repeatedly the world's number one — drive the hour from Naples for it."
Franco Pepe works dough by hand in a hill town an hour north of Naples, and the trip is the point. His Margherita Sbagliata — the "mistaken" Margherita, with the mozzarella and a basil reduction added after the bake — is one of the most copied pies in Italy. 50 Top Pizza has named Pepe in Grani the world's best more than once. Around €10 to €18 a pizza, and you reserve.
2. I Masanielli — Caserta, Italy
"Francesco Martucci's relentless dough lab, a former world number one — go for the pie nobody else is making."
Francesco Martucci treats dough like a research project, and I Masanielli in Caserta topped the 50 Top Pizza world list in 2022. His menu runs from a flawless Margherita to fried and double-cooked experiments that read like fine dining. Expect €8 to €20 a pizza, and book ahead for weekend evenings.
3. L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele — Naples, Italy
"The 1870 Forcella temple that serves only Margherita and marinara — queue for it once in your life."
Open since 1870, da Michele makes two pizzas, Margherita and marinara, and nothing else, for around €5 to €6. There is no booking; you take a numbered ticket and wait, sometimes an hour. The dough is soft and slack, the tomato bright, the whole thing a lesson in how little a great pizza needs.
4. Gino Sorbillo — Naples, Italy
"The Tribunali institution that put the third-generation Sorbillo name on the world map — order the Margherita."
Gino Sorbillo runs the most famous address on Via dei Tribunali, the spine of pizza Naples. His Margherita, around €6 to €9, is the benchmark plenty of the world's newer pizzaioli are chasing. Queues are long and worth it; arrive at opening or expect to wait.
5. 50 Kalò — Naples, Italy
"Ciro Salvo's high-hydration dough is the lightest in Naples — book it for the cleanest crust in the city."
Ciro Salvo built 50 Kalò on a high-hydration dough that bakes feather-light, and it routinely sits among the world's top ten. The Margherita and the marinara show the crust off best, around €7 to €12. Unlike the old guard it takes reservations, which alone makes it worth knowing.
6. Una Pizza Napoletana — New York, USA
"Anthony Mangieri's monkish whole-pie counter, ranked America's best — go early before the dough runs out."
Anthony Mangieri makes a finite number of pies a night and stops when the dough is gone. Una Pizza Napoletana has been named the best pizzeria in the United States by 50 Top Pizza, with no slices and a short list of pies around $28 to $37. The Margherita and the Filetti are the ones to order. See more in our best pizza in New York guide.
7. Tony's Pizza Napoletana — San Francisco, USA
"Tony Gemignani's many-ovens showroom, a World Pizza Cup winner — come for the 73-a-day Margherita."
Tony Gemignani is a multiple World Pizza Cup champion, and his North Beach room cooks seven styles in different ovens. The Neapolitan Margherita is capped at 73 a day; the Cal Italia, draped with prosciutto and fig, shows his range. Pies run roughly $25 to $32, and the wait can be long.
8. Pizzeria Bianco — Phoenix, USA
"Chris Bianco's James Beard–winning desert original — order the Rosa and understand the fuss."
Chris Bianco, the first pizzaiolo to win a James Beard Award, built his reputation on the Rosa — red onion, Parmesan, rosemary and Arizona pistachios — and the Wiseguy with house mozzarella and fennel sausage. Pies are around $18 to $22. The downtown Phoenix room still draws a line decades on.
9. Razza — Jersey City, USA
"Dan Richer's flour-obsessed room across the Hudson — book it for the best crust in the New York area."
Dan Richer mills thinking about dough into something close to a philosophy, and Razza earned a rare three-star review from The New York Times. The Project Hazelnut, with honey and house ricotta, and the plain Margherita are the tells. Pies around $16 to $21, in Jersey City a short ride from Manhattan.
10. Seu Pizza Illuminati — Rome, Italy
"Pier Daniele Seu's modern Roman tonda, crisp and inventive — book it to see where Rome is heading."
Pier Daniele Seu makes a thin, crisp Roman round that has become the city's reference for contemporary pizza, with seasonal toppings that change constantly. Pies run roughly €9 to €15. It is one of the rooms remaking Rome's pizza scene; more in our best pizza in Rome guide.
11. 180g Pizzeria Romana — Rome, Italy
"Jacopo Mercuro's neighbourhood Roman round, a 50 Top fixture — worth the trip out to Centocelle."
Jacopo Mercuro put the working-class Centocelle district on the pizza map with a crisp, well-fermented Roman tonda and toppings that nod to Roman cooking — cacio e pepe, gricia. Pies are around €8 to €13, and the room is a regular on the 50 Top Pizza list.
12. Bæst — Copenhagen, Denmark
"Christian Puglisi's farm-to-pie Nørrebro room — book it for house mozzarella made that morning."
Christian Puglisi makes his own mozzarella and cures his own charcuterie from a dedicated organic farm, then bakes a Neapolitan-leaning pie in Nørrebro. Pizzas run roughly 130 to 160 Danish kroner. Bæst is the clearest proof that the Nordic ingredient obsession suits pizza beautifully.
13. Sartoria Panatieri — Barcelona, Spain
"Rafa Panatieri and Jorge Sastre's sustainable Barcelona room, a 50 Top Europe leader — order the house charcuterie pie."
Rafa Panatieri and Jorge Sastre make their own salumi and grow ingredients for a Naples-trained pie that has become one of Europe's best outside Italy. Pizzas run around €13 to €16 in the Eixample. It sits near the top of the 50 Top Pizza Europe ranking and takes bookings.
14. Roberta's — New York, USA
"The Bushwick room that rewrote Brooklyn pizza — order the Bee Sting and stay for the scene."
Roberta's, under Carlo Mirarchi, turned a Bushwick warehouse into the most influential pizza room of its generation. The Bee Sting — soppressata, chilli and honey — has been copied across the country. Pies run around $18 to $21, and the energy is half the draw. More in our New York pizza guide.
Where Not to Set Your Expectations
Do not judge any of these rooms by a takeaway box. Neapolitan pizza is built to be eaten at the table within minutes of the bake — soft, wet in the centre, eaten with a knife and fork. Order it to go and you are testing a different, lesser thing. And skip the "gourmet" pizzerias that pile on twelve toppings; the rooms on this list win on dough and restraint, not on excess.
Keep reading
Best pizza restaurants worldwide Best Italian restaurants Best pizza in New York 2026 Best pizza in Rome 2026 Naples dining guideFrequently Asked
Where is the best pizza in the world?
Naples and surrounding Campania remain the centre of the pizza world, and our top pick is Franco Pepe's Pepe in Grani in Caiazzo, repeatedly named number one by the 50 Top Pizza guide. The region — da Michele, Gino Sorbillo, 50 Kalò, Francesco Martucci's I Masanielli — holds more of the world's best pizzerias than anywhere else, though New York and the Bay Area now field serious rivals.
What makes a great pizza restaurant?
Dough above everything: long, slow fermentation, the right hydration, and a clean char from a properly hot oven. After that it is restraint with toppings and the quality of a few ingredients — San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella, good olive oil. The best rooms, like Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, do very few pies perfectly rather than offering a long menu.
How much does pizza cost at these restaurants?
Far less than you might expect for this level. A Margherita at a great Neapolitan pizzeria such as Gino Sorbillo or da Michele runs roughly €5 to €9. Contemporary and US rooms charge more — expect $18 to $30 a pie at Una Pizza Napoletana, Tony's or Razza. Even the world's best pizza is one of the great-value luxury meals.
Do I need a reservation for these pizzerias?
It varies. The classic Naples pizzerias mostly do not take bookings and you queue, sometimes for an hour at da Michele. Destination rooms — Pepe in Grani, Una Pizza Napoletana, Tony's, Bæst in Copenhagen — take reservations and prime weekend slots go a week or more ahead. Book where you can, and arrive early where you cannot.
Is Neapolitan pizza better than New York or Roman pizza?
Not better, different. Neapolitan pizza is soft and fast-baked; Roman tonda is thin and crisp; New York is foldable and built for the street. The best version of each is worth a trip, which is why this list spans all of them. The question is not which style wins but who cooks their style best.