Earlier this year, dough-slinging A-lister Paul Giannone released Pizza From the Heart, an entertaining and highly acclaimed cookbook/memoir, in a collab with his wife, Mary Ann. Now he’s capped a milestone year with kudos from the world’s most respected pizza guide: 50 Top Pizza.

Paulie Gee’s, Giannone’s beloved Brooklyn-born concept that has spread to select locations across the eastern U.S., claimed the No. 16 spot on 50 Top Pizza’s ranking of the world’s top 50 artisan pizza chains for 2025. Paulie Gee’s was the highest-ranked American pizza brand, followed by Daniele Uditi’s Los Angeles-born concept, Pizzana, at No. 17. Pizzana also claimed the Fedegroup Award for Best Service.

Additionally, 50 Top Pizza placed California chain Doppio Zero at No. 20 and Washington D.C.-based Stellina Pizzeria at No. 24, with the latter winning the La Gioioso Award for Best Wine List.

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Meanwhile, let’s all give a round of thunderous applause for Da Michele, the top-ranked concept on the list. Technically, you could call it an American brand since it has two locations in Los Angeles, but that would be a bit of a stretch. Da Michele has been rooted for 150 years in the heart of Forcella in Naples and is a latecomer to L.A.

50 Top Pizza unveiled 2025’s final awards list on November 28. The ceremony took place at the European Pizza Show in London.

Paul Giannone (left) with Michael Chapman at the European Pizza Show. (Paulie Gee’s / Instagram)

Click here to view the full list of the 50 Top World Artisan Pizza Chains

Aside from the four U.S. brands, the awards were spread out among concepts spanning the globe from Italy, Spain and the UK to Brazil, Switzerland, Australia and even Thailand. (But if you guessed that Italy dominated the ranking, as usual, you did not guess wrong.)

Da Michele has more than 70 locations across multiple continents, where customers can enjoy its famous “wagon wheel” (a ruota di carro) pizza. Second place went to Big Mamma Group, boasting numerous restaurants in France, Spain, England and Germany. Third place went to Grosso Napoletano, established in 2017 and now bringing Neapolitan-style pizza to major cities across Spain.

Bráz, a Brazilian brand known for its large, crispy, wood-fired pizzas, placed fourth. Fifth place went to Luigia, with locations in Switzerland and Dubai. Sixth place went to Pizza Pilgrims, founded in the UK by brothers Thom and James Elliot. In seventh position is Berberè, created by brothers Salvatore and Matteo Aloe, who expanded from Castel Maggiore to London with four outlets, after opening about 10 restaurants in Rome, Florence, Turin, and Milan. 

Eighth place went to 400 Gradi in Australia, led by Johnny Di Francesco. Ninth place went to the Errico Porzio group, with locations mainly across Southern Italy. Closing the Top 10 is Gruppo Peppe by Peppe Cutraro, with restaurants in Paris and Lyon.

Meanwhile, several U.S. chains were listed in 50 Top Pizza’s “Excellent” category, which means they’re “not to be missed,” the guide said. These include Locanda in Northern California; Pupatella, with 11 stores in Virginia, Washington D.C. and Maryland; Roberta’s in New York; Settebello in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Pasadena, Henderson and Oxnard; and Tutta Bella in Seattle. 
“We are very proud of the artisanal chains guide because over the years we have witnessed a constantly growing movement not only in numbers, but above all in quality,” said 50 Top Pizza’s three curators, Barbara Guerra, Luciano Pignataro and Albert Sapere, in a collective statement. “Artisanal craftsmanship combined with solid business organization has created a true revolution in the pizza world.”

The event opened with remarks from Inigo Lambertini, Italy’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, who highlighted the cultural and global excellence of pizza as a symbol of Italy.

“Pizza is more than just food,” Lambertini said. “It is culture, history and identity. It is a symbol of conviviality, an ambassador in its own right of Italian lifestyle and craftsmanship all over the world. For generations, pizzaioli in Italy and all over the world have combined passion with innovation, preserving local traditions while embracing the global evolution of taste. London is thus the natural host city for the European Pizza Show: the most globalized Italian food in the most globalized city in the world.”