On October 26, 2026, Gambero Rosso gave its Petra special prize for pizzaioli who made history to five people at once: Simone Padoan, Renato Bosco, Gabriele Bonci, Franco Pepe and Enzo Coccia. The prize was announced at the party for Gambero Rosso's forty years, in Rome, the same evening that presented the guide's fourteenth edition, handed out 120 Tre Spicchi and named a Calabrian pizzeria, Bob Alchimia a Spicchi, Pizzeria of the Year.
Line up these five featured addresses and the geography is the story. Only Coccia's featured address is in Naples. The other four sit in the Veneto, in Rome, and up a hill in Caserta province. Some run other venues too; these five featured places are not a complete list of their work.
Start east of Verona. Simone Padoan has worked in San Bonifacio since 1994, at Via Camporosolo 11, not in Verona itself though plenty of listings still place it there. In 1999, as his profile on The Best Pizza Awards tells it, he stopped treating the base as a disc waiting for toppings and began building it as a dish in its own right. That decision is where his tasting format comes from, and by 2013 the same natural leavening had pushed him into panettone and focaccia veneta.
i Tigli
€€€€ · 3,504 reviews
Simone Padoan opened i Tigli in San Bonifacio in 1994. The kitchen uses natural leavening and serves pizza in a tasting format at Via Camporosolo 11, east of Verona.
Closer to the city, in San Martino Buon Albergo, Renato Bosco calls himself the Pizzaricercatore. He started working with lievito madre in 1994 after meeting Professor Emanuele Ceccarelli, and in 2019 his starter was deposited in the Sourdough Library at Saint-Vith, Belgium, as number 108. The dining side moved into Piazza del Popolo 46 in 2018, and the sign now reads Renato Bosco Pizzeria, not the older Saporè that still turns up in listings.
Renato Bosco Pizzeria
€€€€ · 3,318 reviews
Renato Bosco Pizzeria is at Piazza del Popolo 46 in San Martino Buon Albergo. Bosco develops distinct dough textures, including Crunch and DoppioCrunch, and his sourdough starter is catalogued as number 108 in the Sourdough Library.
In Rome, Gabriele Bonci has run Pizzarium at Via della Meloria 43 since 2003, a standing counter a short walk from the Cipro stop on Metro A. It is pizza al taglio: rectangular trays on long fermentation, slices cut with scissors and sold by weight, so the piece you point at decides the bill.
Pizzarium Bonci
€€€€ · 19,447 reviews
Unique square slices with traditional flavors, like the broccoli, egg & potato. Service can be slow & seating is limited.
Franco Pepe opened Pepe in Grani in October 2012, in a three-story stone building up a steep alley in Caiazzo. His pizzeria works with products from the surrounding area. On the Margherita Sbagliata, created that same year, the pie goes into the oven with the buffalo mozzarella and nothing else, and the tomato and basil are piped on afterward, in stripes and dots. His own account of why is technical rather than poetic: the riccio, the small local tomato he uses, could not take the oven heat.
Pepe in Grani
€€€€ · 17,752 reviews
Exceptional pizzas with great dough, friendly staff. The tasting menu was a lot of food.
Enzo Coccia opened La Notizia 53 on Via Michelangelo da Caravaggio in 1994 and La Notizia 94, a few doors up the same street, in 2010. The Michelin Guide carries the original in its Naples listings today. Both are Neapolitan to the core, the template the other four are measured against.
Pizzaria la Notizia
€€€€ · 5,513 reviews
Great Neapolitan pizza, especially the Tucci. Service was fast, but they don't have special plates for dogs.
La Notizia 94
€€€€ · 959 reviews
Delicious pan pizza and innovative Neapolitan style with phenomenal ingredients. Pistachio dessert was disappointing.
Five addresses, five approaches
Read as a set, and this is our editorial comparison rather than a verdict from the guide, the five sit at five different distances from the Naples template: two Veneto kitchens that rebuilt the base, a Roman counter that sells by the gram, a Campanian pizzaiolo who rewired his supply chain, and a Neapolitan who stayed put.
How to visit all five
Several stops, not one walk. Padoan and Bosco are both east of Verona and can fit into one Veneto trip. Check each venue's current reservation rules before setting out. Pizzarium is a Rome stop you fit around the Vatican museums, standing room and a paper sheet. Caiazzo and Naples are about 50 km apart, so Pepe is a car trip out of the city, booked ahead, not an afternoon detour.
Pin the five addresses, then plan your visits on the map.
