The 11 best pizzerias in Naples

On the border between the chic areas of Chiaia and Posillipo, 50 Kaló has earned a rep among wealthier locals as the place to be for good wine and even better pizza, just steps from the waterfront. Focused on top-quality ingredients, it’s pricier than spots in the centre, but it goes without saying you can taste where the extra few euros go.

The excitable crowd of hungry guests lining up outside Sorbillo may make you think twice, but relax: put your name down, grab a spritz from the tiny kiosk next door and chat away as you wait. Because this pizza’s well worth hanging around for. Inside, a warm, cosy interior awaits – alongside some of the best pies in town. The menu spans classics like marinara and Margherita and a handful of more inventive takes.

Starita’s cavernous no-frills interior brims with locals and visitors who flock to conquer their generously piled pizzas. The overflowing tables often seem an impossible challenge, but always end up conspicuously empty. Don’t miss their pizze montanara, where they double down with oven-baked pizzas built on their perfect fluffy fried dough.

Salvatore and Carla are La Sanità’s golden couple. Masters of their trade, Salvatore makes mouth-watering imaginative pizzas. Carla welcomes you with open arms, so you feel immediately at home in this formerly crime-ridden neighbourhood. Located on the characterful piazza in front of the baroque Santa Maria della Sanità church, it makes for the perfect lunch stop after a morning stomping through the tiny back streets to the underground cemetery and catacombs.

La Masardona originated in the down-at-heel Case Nuove district and used to be the area’s best-kept secret before word spread of their light, crispy dough filled with oozing hot ricotta and tomato ragù. It has quickly garnered a rep for being the best-fried pizza in Italy. Just think of the ground that covers. 

Ristorante Mattozzi is a go-to for locals after exquisitely fresh pasta and seafood dishes. But their pizza is quietly among the best in town, too. A short walk from the ferry terminal, it’s the perfect stop-off for a leisurely lunch before you sail off to one of the nearby islands (where a better meal will be tricky to find).

Tradition holds that the best fried pizza is made not in a kitchen but out on the street in aluminium vats of boiling oil – just like the ones Sophia Loren makes in Di Sica’s Neapolitan classic ‘L’Oro di Napoli’. Despite the health and safety concerns, street pizza-making still flourishes clandestinely; you just need to know when and where. Your best bet is on Via Vergini or deep in the Spanish Quarter on Saturday afternoon.

Walk past the stand of fried delicacies, and upstairs you’ll be treated to some outstanding pizza. But don’t blame yourself if you don’t make it past the threshold – a goody bag filled with croquettes, fried aubergine, arancini, and Frittatine (pasta stuffed with meat and peas) may be just what you need to recharge after a day of traipsing around this hilly city.

Naples’s pizza kitchens are notoriously dominated by men, but Isabelle de Cham, who apprenticed at the legendary La Masardona, has built her eponymous address with an all-female staff. The restaurant has been heaped with awards and praise, including being touted in the local press as a favourite among some of Naples’s most respected old-guard chefs.

Julia Roberts’s character famously found prayer in India and love in Bali, but she ate pizza at Da Michele. Everything about this place is simple, from the tiled interior to the stripped-down menu with only two options (with or without mozzarella). There’s no question why you’re here: to enjoy perfectly cooked pizza and, perhaps, have some sort of religious experience while you’re at it.

Smart white table cloths, elegantly dressed families and a huge display of fresh fish on ice in the middle of the restaurant... Ciros is as much a good fish restaurant as an excellent pizzeria. Packed on Sundays, it makes the perfect lunch spot for families: parents can order more refined dishes such as grilled sea bass or octopus stew while kids enjoy their usual Margherita, sprinkled with clams and mussels if they’re feeling adventurous.