By Brian Hernandez
Vitangelo “Vito” Recchia competed in an international pizza event in Sweden with a simple plan: Let the dough tell his story and allow the ingredients to tell a little bit of Sweden’s.
On September 15, the Pizza University instructor, Marra Forni ambassador and U.S. Pizza Team culinary coach put that plan on the table at the Pizza Champion Cup International in Gothenburg and earned first place in the Teglia/Pan Pizza category.
Founded by pizza world champion Mike Arvblom, the sold-out competition brought pizzaioli and chefs from several countries to the Svenska Mässan convention center. Fifteen judges evaluated the field, including Michelin-recognized chefs Jonas Lagerström and Daniel Falkenman, two-time culinary world champion Krister Dahl and Neapolitan pizza ambassador Luciano Sorbillo. TV4 also broadcast live from the championship arena during its daytime and evening news programs, bringing the competition to about 9 million viewers.
Arvblom called 2026 a milestone for the Pizza Champion Cup, saying the event has grown into “a major event for the industry and a platform capable of putting world-class pizza craftsmanship in the international spotlight.”
Teglia With Magic
Recchia’s winning pizza, Teglia With Magic (pictured above), paired Roman-style dough with butter-poached langoustine (Norway lobster), potato cream, crème fraîche, chanterelles, lingonberry and Västerbottensost, a hard, granular Swedish cheese made from cow’s milk.
It was an ambitious combination, but every component had to contribute without burying the pizza underneath it.
“The potato brought richness,” Recchia said. “The crème fraîche brought acidity. The langoustine brought sweetness. The chanterelles brought that earthiness. The lingonberry cut through everything, and the Västerbottensost gave it another real connection to Sweden.”
Restraint was just as important as creativity. “You could still taste the pizza,” he said. “I didn’t want 12 ingredients fighting each other while the dough disappeared underneath them. Every ingredient had a job. If it didn’t make the next bite better, it didn’t belong there. That’s the magic.”
Recchia also refused to abandon his identity simply because he was competing in another country. Roman teglia, fermentation and the balance between a crispy exterior and light interior remained his foundation, while Sweden provided the inspiration for the toppings.
“I wanted to pay homage to Sweden without pretending to be Swedish,” he said. “There’s a big difference. I wanted to learn about their ingredients, understand them and then figure out how they could fit into what I do.”
He could have stayed with familiar ingredients, but that would have defeated the purpose of competing internationally. “I’m in Sweden. Why would I ignore Sweden?” he said. “I’m an Italian-American pizzaiolo making Roman teglia. That’s my identity. But I can pay homage to another culture without trying to imitate it.”
The result fulfilled the idea he had expressed before leaving for Gothenburg: “The dough was me. The ingredients were Sweden. That’s exactly what I wanted that pizza to be.”
Arvblom said Recchia’s victory demonstrated that the Pizza Champion Cup is becoming a truly international stage. “Vito brought something special from America and put the U.S. on the map at this year’s Cup,” he said. “His winning pan pizza demonstrated that outstanding American pizza craftsmanship can perform at the highest level in the Nordic countries.”
For Recchia, it was about demonstrating that American pizzaioli belong in every pizza conversation, whatever the language. “When USA is on your jacket, you’re representing more than yourself,” he said. “I didn’t go to Sweden to prove we’re better than anybody. I went there to show that we’re serious about what we do.”
When the Recipe Stops Working
International competition rarely provides the controlled environment of a home kitchen. Competitors contend with unfamiliar flour, water, weather, ovens and workspaces while racing against a clock. Anything can go wrong.
“I always say, the dough doesn’t care about your schedule,” Recchia said. “Take your dough thousands of miles from home, put yourself in another country, another kitchen, another climate, oven, or even better, your dough doesn’t make the flight and now you need to source flour…and then put a clock in front of you. Welcome to competition.”
That is where memorizing a formula reaches its limit. A pizzaiolo has to recognize whether dough is moving too quickly or too slowly, understand how an unfamiliar oven transfers heat and make adjustments without creating another problem. “You can’t panic every time the dough doesn’t behave exactly like it did in your own kitchen,” Recchia said. “A recipe tells you what to do. Understanding tells you what to do when the recipe stops working.”
It is the same lesson he teaches at Pizza University: “Don’t just memorize a recipe. Understand why it works.”
Three Years Between Podiums
The win came three years after Recchia finished second in the world in Pizza in Teglia at the 2023 World Pizza Championship in Parma, Italy. It was only his second competition, and he carried his dough on his person inside a large food delivery bag all the way from Rome.
And yet his Heart of Parma pizza earned the highest score among American competitors. “I’ve won some. I’ve lost some. I’ve taught. I’ve coached. I’ve traveled,” he said. “I’ve made great pizzas, and I’ve made pizzas that sent me right back to the drawing board.” That work gave the victory in Sweden its weight. “It’s not just first place,” he said. “It’s three years of work between that podium and this one. Parma opened a door. I just kept working. And I’m still working.”
Despite the international title, Recchia is not ready to declare himself a master of teglia. “Hell, no,” he said. “Dough will humble you way too quickly for that.” His philosophy remains simple: “Winning doesn’t mean you’ve mastered anything. It means you got a lot of things right on that day. Enjoy it. Then tomorrow, focus on doing it again.”
He also credits the people around him, including his wife, Theresa, sons Benny and James, restaurant staff and supporters who make the work possible. “Because, let’s be serious, none of us does this alone,” he said. “My family makes sacrifices. My staff makes sacrifices. People give me their time, knowledge and support. So yes, my name is on the trophy. But there are a lot of fingerprints on it.”
Two American Approaches
Recchia was joined in Gothenburg by fellow U.S. Pizza Team member Sean Dempsey (pictured above) of Dempsey’s Brewery Pub & Restaurant in Watertown, South Dakota. Dempsey competed in the International Nordic Best Gourmet Pizza category with a historically inspired take on European pub fare that incorporated California mozzarella and San Joaquin Gold.
He entered Sweden having earned trophies in six of his previous seven competitions. As Dempsey said before the event, “You gotta be you. Play into your strengths. Do what you do best.”
The Pizza Champion Cup will next expand into Finland with an introductory competition in Helsinki on January 13. Arvblom will then take the flagship European Pizza Championship to Oslo, Norway, on February 16 and 17. He said the organization intends to carry Gothenburg’s momentum into an even more ambitious 2027 schedule, with a stronger international field and internationally recognized culinary professionals among the judges.
His long-term vision is for the European Pizza Champion Cup to become a mark of excellence in pizza comparable to what Michelin stars represent in fine dining. “Gothenburg showed us how far we have come,” Arvblom said. “Oslo, Norway in 2027 is about showing the world where we are going next.”
Recchia plans to enjoy the trophy a little longer because he worked hard for it. Eventually, however, it will find a place on a shelf while he returns to the classroom, the kitchen and the next batch of dough. “The trophy is a moment. The work is the story,” he said. “Impact over influence. One percent better every day. And no matter how many podiums you stand on, stay a student.”
Brian Hernandez is PMQ’s associate editor and coordinator of PMQ’s U.S. Pizza Team.
