As it comes, the best pizzeria is not in famed Italy but in cosmopolitan New York, according to voting.
HDN Newsroom
This week Italy-based Top 50 Pizza Awards made the 2024 global list, and a Lower East Side restaurant came out on top.
Una Pizza Napoletana, opened by pizza maestro Anthony Mangieri in March 2022, not only beat U.S. competitors, but also global ones. This includes pizzerias in Naples, Italy, the sacred land for pizza lovers and foodies in general.
"It's encouraging to be recognized for this 30 years after starting my career, especially in Naples, where pizza started," Mangieri told CNN Travel.
Why Una Pizza Napoletana?
The top 50 pizza awards explain how Una won the highest honor on its website.
"In a country that is always used to putting everything on pizza, Anthony proposes only the purest tradition in toppings, with excellent quality ingredients. Marinara, Margherita, Cosacca and a pizza that changes every day, based on the ingredients of the market," the awards website said.
Mangieri, who grew up in New Jersey, developed a "pizza obsession at a young age," a spokesperson for the restaurant told the media. His mother ended up driving him to all the famous spots in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut in his quest to find the "perfect pizza".
Mangieri "focuses on natural sourdough pizzas, baked on wood with ingredients like the best San Marzano tomatoes, wild Amalfi oregano, buffalo DOP mozzarella and Sicilian sea salt," the spokesperson said, adding, "He chose to have only one location so he could obsessively focus on every detail."
Mangieri focuses on the basics to achieve his results. "What makes a really good pizza is the dough first. It's not a specific recipe, but it's about hydration and understanding how the dough is processed and the ability to adapt to all the variables involved," he told CNN Travel.
"At Una, what makes us different is that our dough is naturally sourdough and highly hydrated, it's never in the fridge, it's made with a mixture of many different Italian flours, and I make the dough every day we open."
Una Pizza Napoletana should appeal to the "slow food" audience. She bakes only three pizzas at a time in her wood ovens. The current location, at 175 Orchard Street, just off Houston Street, is actually the sixth iteration of the restaurant and has been open since March 2022.
For people who prefer frozen sweets more than hot pizza, the Top 50 Pizza Awards also praised homemade ice cream and seasonal sorbets at Una.
Regarding recognition, Mangieri said: "Recognition is appreciated, but ultimately it's not the reason why I started and it's not the reason why I continue to make every dough ball we serve at Una after so many years. It fuels us to go to the restaurant every day and give more love and concentration and not take anything for granted."
And what does this pizza master himself enjoy eating? "I eat pasta at almost every meal. Or my fiancée's Mexican cuisine."
New Yorkers saw three more pizzerias make the 2024 list, which included a total of 101 restaurants (despite the "50" in the name of the awards). The rankings of the other New York pizzerias were Ribalta at number 19, Don Antonio at number 30 and L'industrie Pizzeria at number 80.
Italy also managed to dominate the overall list with 41 restaurants, while the United States was recognized a total of 15 places.
Italy's Naples, famous for its pizzas, managed to overtake New York with five entries on the list, including a tie at No. 2 with Diego Vigtaliano Pizzeria.
Showing how truly global the awards are, nations not exactly known for their pizza recipes—South Korea, Bolivia, and India, to name three—were represented on the list.
The leaderboardThese are the top pizzerias around the world, according to the Top 50 Pizza Awards, for 2024:
1. Una Pizza Napoletana (New York, USA)
2. (tie) Diego Vitagliano Pizzeria (Naples, Italy)
3. (tie) I Masanielli - Francesco Martucci (Caserta, Italy)
4. The Pizza Bar on 38th (Tokyo, Japan)
5. Confine (Milan, Italy)
6. Napoli on the Road (London, England)
7. Tony's Pizza Napoletana (San Francisco, USA)
8. I Tigli (San Bonifacio, Italy)
9. Sartoria Panatieri (Barcelona, Spain)
10. 50 Kalò (Naples, Italy)
