The Best Pizza Near La Kucina, by the Record
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A pizzeria in central Foggia where the doughs run light and the toppings are paired with the kind of deliberateness that earns the name "taste researchers." The room is compact and modern, the service quick, and they serve lunch, which in a city where pizza is mostly a night-out affair is a useful thing to know. Exactly the sort of neighbourhood spot that locals treat as a given and visitors quietly feel smug about finding.
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A pizza restaurant on one of San Giovanni Rotondo's main streets, with a comfortable terrace and a polished interior that suggests the kitchen takes itself seriously. The fritti arrive first, crispy and well-seasoned, a warm-up act that earns its place. Pizzas run both thin-crust and Neapolitan-style, the dough airy and properly blistered at the edges. It ranked among 50 Top Pizza Italy's top hundred, which in Puglia is saying something.
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Rank 3. Forentum
Neapolitan Pizza
The dining room is a natural cave, which sets the tone before the food arrives. Forentum is a casual country-cooking restaurant in Lavello's historic center, with a terrace out front and Basilicata's pantry driving the menu, plus occasional seafood and, come evening, pizza in three distinct doughs. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the crowd seems largely local, which in a town this size is its own endorsement.
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A pizzeria on the edge of Lake Lesina, where the father goes out foraging wild herbs and the mother runs the kitchen, which tells you something about the spirit of the place before you've sat down. The margherita is properly leavened and light, but the grilled eel is the thing to order if you're paying attention. Focaccia with salicornia shows the lake is more than scenery here.
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A pizza spot on the waterfront promenade in Margherita di Savoia, recently renovated around a large open oven that you can watch from your table. After splitting the family operation into a separate restaurant and pizzeria, the team narrowed their focus here: soft doughs, regional Pugliese flours, buffalo mozzarella from the Gargano. The menu runs from traditional pies to contemporary takes and stuffed focaccias. The family wine shop is a short walk away if you want to keep the evening going.
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Rank 6. Pizzeria Giovanni Grimaldi
Neapolitan Pizza
A Neapolitan pizza joint that transplanted itself, fully formed, to the center of a small Irpinian town. The dough is the classic southern style: bold, direct, with a restrained crust that stays out of its own way. Campanian ingredients run throughout, with a few Slow Food presidium products in the mix. The room is warm and unpretentious, with bits of Naples on the walls for anyone who needs the reminder of where the allegiances lie.
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A pizza restaurant in the small Basilicata hill town of Rionero in Vulture, Glamour turns out long-fermented pies with a light, fragrant crust and toppings built around local Lucanian ingredients. The kitchen takes the pairing work seriously, and the room is modern and tidy without trying too hard. It placed on 50 Top Pizza Italy, which in southern Italy is a meaningful flag to plant. Good wine and beer list, attentive service.
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Rank 8. Il Balcone
Contemporary Pizza
A floor-to-ceiling window frames the Lucanian Apennines while you eat, which is either the second-best thing about this contemporary pizza spot or the first, depending on the day. The dough gets a long, careful ferment, landing somewhere between airy and substantial. Toppings lean into Apulian ingredients without turning the menu into a folklore exhibit. The beverage list holds its own, and the service is polished without being stiff.
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A pizza spot run by three friends out of an old palazzo in Basilicata, with natural materials and warm light keeping things grounded without the usual designer fuss. The dough is the point: long-fermented, light, dry-edged, and never heavy. Ingredients lean hard on Vulture-area producers, some tied directly to the partners' own farms. The wine list follows the same regional logic. It landed on 50 Top Pizza Italy, which tracks.
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Rank 10. Alterego Pizza Boutique
Contemporary Pizza
A pizza boutique in Andria where there's no menu to deliberate over, just a chef-driven tasting format that moves with the seasons. The doughs are long-fermented and light, and the toppings lean toward combinations you wouldn't have thought to order but wouldn't argue with afterward. Wine pairings are taken seriously here, which sets the room apart from your average slice situation. It ranked 85th on 50 Top Pizza Italy.
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A pizza spot tucked among the old alleys of Vieste, where two young friends run the kitchen with a warmth that carries through to the service. The "a ruota di carro" style, a wide, thin wheel of dough, comes out crispy and well seasoned. The menu is extensive, the outdoor terrace in the historic centro is genuinely lovely, and 50 Top Pizza has listed it among Italy's excellent pizzerias.
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A pizzeria that's been an institution in Benevento for generations, a short walk from the Arch of Trajan, named after a beloved 1950s Italian film star. The dough is Neapolitan-style, long-leavened and light, and the toppings lean into the local pantry, Sannio sausage, caciocavallo, regional olive oil. Service is warm and knows what it's doing, which in a town this size means everyone probably knows your order already.