Great Pizza Shootout - and the winner is....

ATTANASIO

Complimenti ragazzi!

After almost 5 months of serious sampling, we gave the #1 to Pizzeria Attanasio. In our review, we originally called them "best of the rest" but as things progressed they moved higher on our list.

We finally had them and one other contender selected - so it came to a pizza to pizza direct comparison. Heather went off to Lombardi a Santa Chiara for a margherita to-go while Zio Lorenzo went off to Attanasio.

We came back to our apartment and held a true slice vs slice comparison to break the tie. That's how close it was!

In the end the crust of the Attanasio pizza just had a fresher and fuller taste which pushed them to the top of our list.

Come down and check 'em out for yourself and let us know what you think.

A special thanks goes to our neighbors at Pizzeria Petrucci - while you didn't win, you were there, just twenty steps away with a pizza margherita in a few minutes for less than 5 euros. Grazie mille!

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 13

                    Who Makes the World's Best Pizza
                                          Part 13

Our challenge continues, though time is getting short to declare a winner and present the prize before we leave Napoli.

This time it was Pizzeria Gorizia. This was a highly recommended place that we hiked up to in Vomero. The climb is a bazillion steps up, up, up so we think we earned our pizza this time!

More great pizza! Too soupy in the center for Zio Lorenzo who thought both of these very, very similar to Da Michele. 

This neighborhood's much more, uh, well, refined than the historic center and you pay for that with higher prices as Gorizia was the highest tab so far, but still under 30 euros for the two pizze and 2 birre.

We have one more famous place to try before we revisit the top contenders and declare a winner.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 12

                Who Makes the World's Best Pizza
                                          Part 12

Damn! We thought we were getting a handle on this, but now we have another contender to add to our top contenders for the prize.

Ciro a Santa Brigida is another famous pizzeria we knew we had to try, but we sort of hoped it might be over-hyped and we could cross it off the list easily.

Not so fast! This was really, really good! They're not coasting on their fame here. Zio Lorenzo thought the crust might be the perfect combination of soft doughy-ness and crispness on the edges.

All the pizze come out of this oven.

Until this visit we really, really thought we had this down to two faves, but now it's back to three with a few more still to try before the award is handed out.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 11

               Who Makes the World's Best Pizza 11

           

Another day, another pizza. This time it was Pizzeria Di Matteo, one of the famous places.

Sorry, no photo of the Marinara as we went off the rails a bit and ordered one with fresh tomatoes. Good, but not fair in the judging.

This is a throw-back place with decor (if you can call it that) like Da Michele, nothing much has happened here for decades, though their big claim-to-fame is/was a visit by Bill Clinton back-in-the-day.

But the pizza? Very good.The outer crust not super crispy but not super doughy either. Not too soggy in the center. Not good enough to push any of our current faves down the list, but still very good. Price-wise, they're not cashing in on their fame, our tab here was one of the lowest of the entire shootout.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 10

            Who Makes the World's Best Pizza? 10 

Another day, another wonderful pizza! We know we're not going to generate any pity here, but this is really getting difficult!

Da' Attilio is one of the famous places so it was no surprise their pizze were just f---king great.

We'd hoped that it would a) be far above the rest or b) be far below the rest. But no dice - it was right up there with the best though maybe some points off for the tiny amount of fresh basil on their margherita?

We've got a few weeks left and a few more to try before we award the t-shirts with #1 on them.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 9

Who Makes the World's Best Pizza Part 9

Our research continues, this time at a "Hmm, that place looks interesting. Perhaps we'll try it next?" place.

Lombardi a Santa Chiara was the place.

This is a place not even a block down the narrow street from us. One we've passed dozens of times during our stay here.

This zone is even a bit "touristy" but then again so is the street where Sorbillo's place is located. But at night it's rather quiet as most of the tourist-related shops have closed for the day.

If anything, these pizze reminded us of Sorbillo's. Yep, they were that good!  Zio Lorenzo thinks he might not be able to tell the difference in a blind taste test.

Choosing a winner in this shootout is going to be harder than we thought!

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 8

Who Makes the World's Best Pizza? Part 8

We're both happy that no real money is riding on this shootout. The subtle differences in various pizze are certainly real, but they vary by what seems ever smaller degrees.

We've passed Fiorenzano (no website, so excuse the TripAdvisor link) plenty of times on our bikes riding along the seafront. It's tucked back into of almost an alley rather than right on the road where everyone and anyone can see it. One of those "Hmm, they don't have the most obviously great location - if they're making it go the pizza must be pretty good?"

And they've been at this since 1897? Let's give 'em a try!!!

We told them hands-down these were the most beautiful pizze we've seen so far!

Heather started calling my photos of these "pizza porn"

The sauce was very good, but perhaps not the best. The dough was one of Zio Lorenzo's favorites, but a bit too, well...doughy for Heather compared to some others with a bit more crispness and lightness.

We both delighted in the plentiful and fresh basilico, something we've not seen so much down here.

These were a huge contrast to our last contestant's offerings. Really, really good. And perhaps even better because we had no preconceived ideas based on any other ratings. We just thought it looked like a good place to enjoy pizza.

We were pleasantly surprised here. We're not ready to call anyone the winner yet but Fiorenzano has just emerged to be a factor in the final sprint to the finish line.

Buon lavoro!

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 7

Who Makes the World's Best Pizza? Part 7

This is tough - if Pizzeria Vesi was a) outside a 50 km radius of the city of Napoli b) or in your neighborhood (wherever you live) you'd be ecstatic.

But it's not and we're not.

In the heart of the place where the best pizza on earth can be found (currently for us that's Attanasio just 30 meters down Via Tribunali from Vesi) these rank just so-so.

Just average. Very average. Despite the blackened edges you can see in the photos, the crust seemed a bit undercooked and the sauce somewhat watery. The Marinara DID have more garlic than most, something we both liked. We tried this place because, like Attanasio, we saw crowds outside one afternoon. But unlike Attanasio, we won't be back.

At present (and we have visited Sorbillo again, this time their place on the waterfront just to keep the memory fresh) Attanasio is still the leader while Petrucci remains our quick go-to when (as it was when we returned from the USA last week) it's time to get one to bring back home to enjoy.

We still have about 6 weeks to enjoy here so the Great Pizza Shootout  will continue...

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 6

              Who Makes the World's Best Pizza? Part 6

We'd seen lines outside this place just up the street from Sorbillo so we added Attanasio (sorry, no website so the link is to TripAdvisor) to our list of places to consider. We weren't sorry!

In distance from our apartment this might be the closest next to Petrucci and San Gennaro and we pass by here often on our way to our favorite panificio for fresh bread most days.

Both of our test samples were excellent! Heather remarked the crust was the freshest-tasting of any she's sampled while the sauce, cheese fresh basil was all top-notch as well.

       The marinara had us thinking of the current champ in this category -                    Michele, but in the end we gave both "best of the rest"

                                           Buon lavoro ragazzi!

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 5

Who Makes the World's Best Pizza? Part 5

We have to admit this was not our first sampling of the pizza from Petrucci. We've enjoyed it to-go countless times already but thought it deserved a proper shootout opportunity.

The reason we've had it to-go so often is the front door of the place is...

...literally 20 steps from this door.  This door enters the courtyard of the palazzo where we rent a small apartment.

We've read and seen online video of various "Best Pizza in Napoli" features but all of 'em go off the rails with silly comparisons including fried pizza, street pizza that you fold up to eat or some gawdawful conglomeration of toppings that remind us of the "pizza-like-substance" so popular in the USA, where emphasis is so much about the toppings the crust might as well be a disc cut out of the cardboard box!

The essential feature of our Great Pizza Shootout is that we're comparing "apples to apples" as they say. We order a Marinara and a Margherita along with beers. We cut 'em in half so we can taste 'em both. That's it. 

We originally thought we'd compile rankings with points for this or that but decided that would result in a boring rating system that would end up making all the pizze seem pretty much the same. 

We ignore how charming (or not) the waiters are, how long we have to wait in line, how long it takes for the pizza to arrive at the table, even the ambiance of the actual pizzeria. The focus is 100% on the pizza!

Despite enjoying pizza from Petrucci so many times, we were excited to see how it would rate under our semi controlled conditions:

Based on our samplings so far we rate these as "best of the rest" just behind Michele and Sorbillo. Up to this point Michele's Marinara has been our favorite while Sorbillo's Margherita gets the nod, but these were very close to both. So close that we're certain we'll need another visit to Sorbillo at least before we crown any winners.

But we've still got a couple of months and the number of pizzerie left to try remains staggering. Are we up to the challenge?

A note on Petrucci: This tab was the highest we've paid so far as they add not only a 2 euro coperto but another 10% for service to your check.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 4

                      Who Makes the World's Best Pizza? Part 4

We may now be pizza snobs, but we're not yet tired of eating it. When you're fortunate enough to live within easy walking distance of places like these it's just too easy! Whether it's going out or ordering to go, the pizza here will remain our reference-standard, a comparison few places outside of Napoli will be able to withstand.

Pizzeria San Gennaro (no website so check TripAdvisor) was a fortunate find when we were here apartment hunting awhile back as it's the first pizza place on the street outside the place we were staying. One of those "Geez how bad can it be?" places turned out to be pretty damn good.

Our now standard "research" order of Margherita and Marinara was cheerfully delivered and enjoyed. We knew they'd be good but were curious as to how they'd match up with our recent samplings.

Excellent crust, though a bit soupy in the middle like Sorbillo's with tasty sauce and good cheese. If Sorbillo and Michele are 100's on a 100 point scale these were low 90's....pizze we'd be happy to enjoy again and again.

Above you see their display case facing the street. They'll fry up whatever you want to order and the rest of their menu looked interesting as well. We plan to stop by for a full meal before our time in Napoli is up.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 3

         Who Makes the World's Best Pizza? Part 3

It doesn't take long to become a snob it seems. We're back from a week in Sicily (where we ate no pizza) and it's time to continue our research and ratings.

 

This time it was Pizzeria Mattozzi another highly rated place we wanted to try,

Above you see Heather and Mattozzi's pizza margherita. We were really underwhelmed by both of these examples. Very average. If we were somewhere OTHER than in the center of Napoli these would have been very satisfying...but we're not...and they were not.

We kept wondering why, but could come up with no good answer for the bland flavor and generally mediocre quality despite watching them throw the dough and bake them up right in front of us. Of all the pizzerie we've visited so far, this is the only one we'd not be happy to revisit.

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 2

Who Makes the World's Best Pizza? Part 2

As a trusted buona forchetta once said, "Ya gotta go and worship at the temple of pizza every now and then....just because."

This Il Tempio della Pizza slogan is even printed on the backs of the staff shirts at Da Michele!

This place is a real throwback. If they parked some period-correct cars out front and dressed the patrons in clothes to match, you'd easily be fooled into thinking it was 1940. The only modern addition to the decor that we noticed was an autographed photo on the wall of the star of Eat, Pray, Love holding a slice of pizza.

As per our shootout specifications we ordered a marinara and a margherita + beer -  not that they have any other options..though you can get normal, medium or maxi size and more cheese if you like.

Despite the low prices (4 euro for margherita normale) the meal here did cost a bit more than Sorbillo as your waiter not-so-subtlety hits you up for a tip as you pay the bill on your way out.

They hand out little paper numbers when you show up to ask for a table and on a rainy Wednesday afternoon we waited barely 10 minutes, just like at Sorbillo.

This is going to be a tough task! These pizze were excellent as you might guess. Zio Lorenzo especially liked the non-soggy center. Crust overall was the equal to Sorbillo, yet somehow different, perhaps a bit softer with slightly less loft on the edges? We both thought the marinara the better of the two and rated it slightly ahead of Sorbillo's, but we're now in ranges of 98's vs 99's out of 100. As noted above, this is going to be tough!!!

Finally, this sign was across the street as we left. If the mobsters are going to bomb any pizzeria (as they did last week with Sorbillo) perhaps they should reserve their ire for anyone putting pineapple on pizza?

CycleItalia's Great Pizza Shootout Part 1

Who makes the world's best pizza?

We aim to find out during the next four months while Heather works on her Fulbright Scholarship projects here in Napoli.

First, let's get a few things understood: While there are some arguments, pizza is essentially an Italian invention and nobody will argue that the people in Napoli know best how to make and enjoy them.

So we're reviewing Neapolitan Pizza.

We've "Googled" the list as well as consulted with locals, but we'll try to visit all the top-rated places along with a few not so well-known.

Why not start with the best? Why indeed. We went off to Sorbillo, which just happens to be less than five minute's walk from our apartment to begin our project. We'd eaten at his place out on the seafront a few years ago and agreed it was the best we'd ever sampled, but why not start fresh with this longer-term project?

Our plan is to get a margherita and a marinara along with beer to keep things simple and consistent for our ratings. For now we're considering four basic qualities -  how it looks, the pasta part, the sauce and the topping. We may get into a numerical rating system as we proceed so stay tuned.

Sorbillo's a busy place as you might guess. It seemed plenty of Neapolitans were in there with Italian friends from other regions as we heard descriptions of these pizze compared with others. And of course there were plenty of tourists and foreigners as well. We got there fairly early in the midday so we waited barely 10 minutes for our name to be called.

This place is very informal with plastic cups for the beer and cheap plates with Sorbillo's logo on them under your pizza. But there's no pressure to order or eat quickly despite the crowd building outside. We saw a few boxed pizze going out for delivery as well.

We both thought the sauce on these was the best we've tasted. The outer part of the crust was exceptionally good with a smoky, woody flavor from the oven. Both of us were a bit let down by the soggy, soupy center of the pizza, though purists might insist this is the way it should be?

So for now Sorbillo's still the champ but we're not 100% certain he'll retain the crown as our project continues.