We’ve all experienced that sensation: you’ve deliberated far too long over what particular pizza to order. You plump for something pretty much at random. You wait, feeling the familiar food fear. Then, when the thing actually comes to the table, simply: phwoar. Have you just discovered… the best pizza on the planet?
That feeling is one you’ll hopefully experience at any of the pizzerias named as Europe’s best in the annual 50 Top Pizza Europe awards. Postponed from earlier this year, it unveiled its annual list of Europe’s best pizzerias (outside of Italy, which is soon to get its own 50-strong list) during an online event earlier this month. The winners were chosen by a jury comprising Italian food writers Barbara Guerra, Albert Sapere and Luciano Pignataro.
And at number one? That’ll be 50 Kalò in London, a pizzeria run by Neapolitan chef Ciro Salvo. Already considered one of London’s best pizzerias, it’s now been recognised with first place in the list of Europe’s 50 best pizza restaurants. And not for the first time: it won last year too.
It’s followed by Enopizzeria Via Toledo in Vienna in second place and Paris’s Bijou in third (it also bagged the best individual ‘pizza of the year’ for its tuna and onion pizza). In fourth place was Baest in Copenhagen, which won the ‘innovation and sustainability’ award too, while La Pizza è Bella in Brussels came fifth.
The list also reveals that if you exclude Italy, London is the pizza capital of Europe: six of its pizzerias made the top 50. Paris comes a close second, with five.
But the real question is: did your most recent epiphany of a pizza make the cut? Check out the full list here:
1. 50 Kalò Di Ciro Salvo Pizzeria London (London, England)
2. Via Toledo Enopizzeria (Vienna, Austria)
3. Bijou (Paris, France)
4. Bæst (Copenhagen, Denmark)
5. La Pizza È Bella (Brussels, Belgium)
6. Malafemmena (Berlin, Germany)
7. Lilla Napoli (Falkenberg, Sweden)
8. NNea Pizza (Amsterdam, Holland)
9. Pizzeria Luca (Copenhagen, Denmark)
10. Fratelli Figurato (Madrid, Spain)
11. Kytaly (Geneva, Switzerland)
12. La Bottega Siciliana (Moscow, Russia)
13. L’Antica Pizzeria (London, England)
14. Daroco Bourse (Paris, France)
15. Pizzeria Luca (Helsinki, Finland)
16. Cirillo’s (Dublin, Ireland)
17. 60 Secondi Pizza Napoletana (Munich, Germany)
18. Oi Vita Pizzeria (London, England)
19. Faggio Pizzeria (Paris, France)
20. Vinoteket (Oslo, Norway)
21. The Dough Bros (Galway, Ireland)
22. Forno D’Oro (Lisbon, Portugal)
23. ‘O Ver St. James’s (London, England)
24. Araldo Arte Del Gusto (Madrid, Spain)
25. Vicoli Di Napoli (London, England)
26. Guillaume Grasso La Vera Pizza Napoletana (Paris, France)
27. Dalmata (Paris, France)
28. MadreLievito Llacuna (Barcelona, Spain)
29. Peppe Pizzeria (Paris, France)
30. La Piola Pizza (Brussels, Belgium)
31. Acqua & Farina (Lugano, Switzerland)
32. La Balmesina (Barcelona, Spain)
33. Double Zero Neapolitan Pizza (Manchester, England)
34. Positano (Kiev, Ukraine)
35. Sodo Pizza (London, England)
36. Oro Di Napoli (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain)
37. Paesano Pizza (Glasgow, Scotland)
38. 450°C (Turku, Finland)
39. NAPLES Authentic Neapolitan Pizza (Fürth, Germany)
40. Pizza Nuova (Prague, Czech Republic)
41. 450 Gradi (Lidingö, Sweden)
42. De Superette Pizza (Gent, Belgium)
43. Scrocchiarella (Moscow, Russia)
44. Belli Di Mamma (Budapest, Hungary)
45. Majstor L Margarita (Belgrade, Serbia)
46. Pizza 22 Cm (Moscow, Russia)
47. Animaletto Pizza Bar (Bucharest, Romania)
48. Nonna Pizzeria (Warsaw, Poland)
49. Ave Pizza (Warsaw, Poland)
50. Kaja Pizza Köök (Tallinn, Estonia)
Looking for more doughy deliciousness? Here’s our pick of the best pizza restaurants in London, New York, Sydney and Melbourne right now.