The Best Pizzas On The Planet: New Survey Reveals Top ‘Must-Visit’ Cities For Ardent Pizza Enthusiasts

Condé Naste Traveler, a popular world travel and lifestyle magazine, has recently unveiled the best pizza destinations on the planet for ardent pizza enthusiasts. Findings of the survey have disclosed some truly remarkable statistics, confirming that U.S. cities have outstripped European destinations as the most sought after pizza hot spots on the planet.

Unsurprisingly, Chicago stands out as the world’s top pizza destination followed by long-standing rival New York City featuring not too far behind on the second spot. Already ranked as the pizza capital of the U.S. last year by TripAdvisor, Chicago takes the lead with its world-famous deep dish pizza which invariably lures in visitors from all across the country. New York City pizzerias are equally famous for their slices, with Brooklyn’s Juliana’s being ranked as the top pizza restaurant in the U.S., along with a host of other eateries regarded as among the finest.

The fact that three in five top destinations are U.S. cities tells a story. Other U.S. cities making the list include Orlando, Florida, standing 4th and New Haven, Connecticut, at the 6th spot, while Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas also make the rankings at 12th, 13th, and 14th spots respectively.

By comparison, only two European cities have made it into the top five rankings. The Italian capital Rome and its southern city of Naples, dubbed the birthplace of the magic Italian dish, can hardly ever straggle too far behind for perhaps the most famous Italian pizza ever known; the Neapolitan crust style comes from Naples. It’s no wonder the city finds itself sitting comfortably on the 5th spot.

Many Italian cities have had their own longstanding pizza rivalries, namely Rome, Naples, and Milan, perhaps one of the reasons why all three have made it to the rankings comfortably. Milan, however, on the 11th spot seems to have lagged behind its other two major rivals. Italy’s Palermo features on the 10th spot ahead of Milan, perhaps owing to delectable stuffed-crust or puffy-crust pan pizzas and in particular its rectangular masterpiece sfincione. By contrast, Roman pizzas are typically thin and crispy, almost flat-bread but not restricted to the same style. Many Roman eateries serve their slices with a thick and crispy crust. The Italian capital quite impressively features to the 3rd spot.

Canadian is also right up there with the best as the only other name next to the U.S. and Italy to have snatched a spot in the rankings. It goes to show that Canada is in the same league as their European and American rivals with names as striking as any other highly fancied pizza powerhouses on the planet. Edmonton , the only Canadian city to make the rankings, is sitting pretty on the 8th spot. Alberta’s capital city, from where two of the finest national pizza chains Boston Pizza and Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria are known to have originated, sits ahead of Florence and is just behind Venice, the two Italian cities standing on 9th and 7th place respectively.

The word “pizza” is thought to have originated from the Latin word pinsa, meaning “flatbread.” It has, in its most basic form as a seasoned flat-bread, a long history in the Mediterranean. As Italian-Americans, and their food, migrated from city to suburb following World War II, the pizza’s popularity as an Italian-American dish in the United States sky-rocketed. Over the years, it was increasingly identified as a fast fun food by the American people. Currently, there are over 60,000 pizzerias in the United States alone.

Condé Nast Traveler is a New York City-based luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast. The magazine has won 25 National Magazine Awards to date. Its readers filled out a “Choice Awards” survey and disclosed the most preferred must-visit pizza cities on the planet for die-hard pizza enthusiasts.