Naples has spoken. At the 50 Top Pizza World 2026 awards, the top prize went not to a New York institution but to Napoli on the Road in Chiswick, west London. The restaurant dethroned Una Pizza Napoletana, which had held the number one slot for the previous two years.
It is less of an upset than it sounds. Owner Michele Pascarella, 34, originally from Maddaloni near Naples, was named Pizza Maker of the Year at the same awards in 2023, and his restaurant has sat in the top five of the European rankings since 2024. He started out with a three-wheeled Piaggio Ape van fitted with a wood-fired oven, slinging pizzas at London farmers' markets before settling into bricks and mortar.
The win caps a strong run for the capital's pizza scene. The night before the awards, Pascarella's new Soho sister restaurant earned a five-star review for its £65 pizza tasting menu. Meanwhile a new wave of pizzerias is leaning away from strict Neapolitan tradition: Ria's Detroit-style deep-dish in Notting Hill and Soho, the oversized pies at Crisp's new Mayfair venture the Marlborough (run with the team behind the Devonshire), Dough Hands residencies, Carmela's in Islington, Vincenzo's in Shoreditch and Roman-leaning Marta in Chelsea.
New York still looms large as an influence — Tom Kemble built his Borough spot Spring St Pizza around the crisp, foldable 18-inch pie — but he argues London is more adventurous, playing with heritage grains, preferments like biga and poolish, and wilder toppings (his current menu features a tequila-sauce pizza with lacto-fermented pineapple and jalapeño hot sauce). Philadelphia legend Joe Beddia picked London, not New York, for his first international opening, Bar Etna in Newington Green, where he uses Irish Coolea cheese and has invented a spinach and paneer curry pizza specifically for British tastes.
The consensus among the people making it happen: New York remains the deeper, more established pizza city, but London is where the experimentation is. No fixed London style has hardened yet, which is exactly why the scene is exciting right now — and why a pizza-crawl weekend across the capital has never looked more tempting.
