The Best Pizza Near Opera|02, by the Record
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Rank 1. tRe in Pomposa
Pizza
A high-crust sourdough pizza place in the Pomposa neighborhood, where the dough ferments for up to 36 hours before it ever sees a flame. The toppings lean heavily on Modena's pantry, so expect the region's producers to do most of the talking. Wines and beers are well chosen. Skip dessert and order another slice instead; the kitchen seems to know which battle it wants to fight.
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Near the Teatro Municipale, this pizzeria channels southern Italian technique through a northern Italian lens, with a dough the kitchen clearly obsesses over. The menu travels the peninsula for regional combinations that rarely make it outside their home towns, like a Rossini pizza dressed with a custom mayonnaise and caper-dusted eggs. Seasonal toppings, territorial pride, and a tall, pillowy crust that holds up under all of it.
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Rank 3. Span
Neapolitan Pizza
The menu announces that pizza has no owners, no masters, and belongs to the people, which sets the tone immediately. This is a Neapolitan pizza spot, one of three Bologna locations, with classic and creative pies, a short beer list, and traditional southern desserts. Reservations aren't taken, so a wait is part of the deal. There's a small terrace if the noise inside gets to you, and the bill won't get to you either.
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Rank 4. Storie Dipinte
Pizza
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A pizzeria sitting out in open countryside, which already tells you something about the regulars who make the drive. The menu breaks pizzas into revisited, award-winning, and chef's specials, and the fish options are taken more seriously than you'd expect. Wines and beers run deep, service is warm without being fussy, and 50 Top Pizza Italy has it among their Excellent Pizzerias.
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A small pizza spot in central Parma where the chef works with high-hydration, long-fermented dough in a style that doesn't answer to Naples. The crust sits at a moderate height, and toppings lean toward Campanian ingredients or pasta-sauce classics like carbonara, ragù, and amatriciana. Tables are close enough that you'll learn your neighbors' order. A newer "fried and deconstructed" menu has since joined the lineup.
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Rank 7. Passione e Tradizione
Neapolitan Pizza
A pocket of Naples transplanted into a Parma piazza, with plastic chairs outside and Neapolitan spirit inside. This pizzeria turns out classic and contemporary pies in the Neapolitan style, with toppings that follow the season and a finishing drizzle of good olive oil on every pizza. The fried snacks are worth ordering alongside. Seasonal ingredients do the heavy lifting here, and the kitchen clearly sweats the small stuff.
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Rank 8. La Fenice
Wood-fired Pizza
A contemporary pizzeria in Pistoia that ranks in the 50 Top Pizza Italy and World lists, La Fenice takes the wood-fired pie seriously enough that the dough rests for a day and a half before it ever sees a flame. The menu wanders pleasantly beyond pizza into fusion appetizers and airy bites the chef calls his signature work. Staff know the beer and wine list cold and will steer you without making you feel tested.
- 50 Top Pizza #46 · 50 Top Pizza World
- 50 Top Pizza #18 · 50 Top Pizza Italy
- 50 Top Pizza 2026 · Best Customer Satisfaction · 50 Top Pizza Italy Special Awards
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The name comes from the fifteen curves of the Mugello Circuit just up the road, and the menu follows the theme with more charm than gimmick. This pizzeria serves contemporary Neapolitan pies at dinner, with ingredients sourced from small Italian producers and pairings that treat the pizza as a full dish rather than a vehicle for toppings. Lunchtimes bring Roman-style pizza al taglio. The room runs fast and friendly, the way a place near a racetrack probably should.
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The pizza at Me put Ferrara on the map for a style the team calls "true contemporary," Naples-rooted but lighter than you'd expect, with a steam-cooked option that tilts the bill toward restaurant territory. The cocktail pairings are part of the pitch, though a thoughtfully assembled international wine list is there for the holdouts. Desserts come in jars. It's a pizzeria that takes itself seriously without being insufferable about it.
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A Neapolitan-style pizzeria tucked under an ancient portico in central Ferrara, where writing in Campanian dialect covers the walls and two ovens handle both traditional and gluten-free pies. The chef came up from Salerno and the dough shows it, long-leavened and properly puffy. Seating spills across two floors in a room that feels more southern Italy than northern. The "ruoto" pan pizzas, rooted in rural Campanian tradition, are worth the short walk from wherever you managed to park.
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The dough splits the difference between Neapolitan softness and Tuscan crispiness, which is either a compromise or a good idea depending on your loyalties. Gli Allocchi is a pizza spot in the hill town of Marradi, with a rustic room and a menu that leans into the surrounding countryside, including a pie built around Marrone del Mugello chestnuts when the season allows. The fried starters and desserts get equal attention from the kitchen.
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Rank 13. Civico 25
Pizza
A pizzeria in Emilia Romagna built around a social mission, where young people with disabilities and survivors of bullying make up the team, and where the pizza itself is the thing that keeps people coming back. The crust runs high and crisps nicely, and the panuozzo from Romagna and the pinsa round out a menu that takes the food as seriously as the cause. The staff greets you like they mean it.
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A neighborhood pizza shop on the edge of Prato where the decision between round and rectangular is not trivial. The shared rectangular format lets a table split three different toppings, which is the kind of pragmatic generosity that makes a small room feel bigger. The dough is well-hydrated and seriously considered, with a choice of flours that the staff will happily talk you through without making it a lecture.