By Tracy Morin
You may know PMQ’s slogan, “When pizza happens, we’re there.” And when great pizza happens, we’ve gotta eat it.
Recently, our pizza travels took us to New York City in search of the “world’s best.” In a repeat of 2022, Anthony Mangieri’s Una Pizza Napoletana was named the No. 1 pizzeria on the planet in September 2024 by 50 Top Pizza, just a few months after also being honored as the best in the U.S. This annual ranking offers a look at the world’s finest, as determined by the experts at the Italy-based international guide, curated by Barbara Guerra, Luciano Pignataro and Albert Sapere. The verdict was announced in an awards ceremony held at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples.
With decades in the pizza business, Mangieri, of course, is no stranger to awards—or to visiting Italy. Genio Della Pizza, his line of frozen pizzas, is produced there, and he personally oversees every single production run. Perhaps that wouldn’t be too big a leap for a busy entrepreneur—except that he’s also the pizzaiolo working the line in his pizzeria every night. If he isn’t there, the pizzeria closes.
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With all of this mystique in mind, I recently visited the bustling Una Pizza Napoletana, which has such an unassuming storefront that you could walk right past the place, unaware of the mastery that’s happening inside. (In fact, I did walk right past the place. Maybe more than once.) Despite arriving early on a Thursday night, the bar and tables were packed, the volume of chatter a notch above lively. Mangieri’s heavily tattooed arms punctuated the back of the room as he worked nonstop behind a glass partition, alongside a wood-burning oven stamped with the word una. But Mangieri is not there as a celebrity or even as a host. He’s laser-focused on the thing that made him a celebrity in certain circles: the pizza.
With a menu that’s elegantly pared down, Una Pizza Napoletana does not overwhelm customers with choices. Two appetizers, two desserts and six pizzas—that’s all. But this kind of specialization allows Mangieri to pull everything off with his trademark perfectionism. Starting with the simple House Marinated Olives and Roasted Peppers Napoletana, moving to the Margherita pizza and another topped with smoked mozz, and concluding with an almond-spiked cremolata and a sorbetto made with fresh seasonal fruit (watermelon from New Jersey, Mangieri’s home state), I relished moving through a good deal of the menu in a single sitting. All in the name of research, right?
Another highlight of the night was chatting briefly with Mangieri after the meal. While the top-notch pizza was a given, his deceptively simple finishers also stood out. “Those desserts are sleeper hits,” I told him.
“We’re always telling people to try them!” he said with a laugh.
After my visit, I reached out to ask him how the 50 Top Pizza awards have changed his business, which was already a bustling success even before such an acknowledgment. His response demonstrates just how he’s able to reach the top—and stay there. “Any award or acknowledgment is always taken with gratitude, but it’s not the reason we do what we do at Una,” he says. “My goal since starting Una in 1996 was quite singular: to make the most beautiful pizza I possibly could, never stop learning and never compromise. Receiving 50 Top Pizza’s award almost 30 years into my career is really rewarding. It feels like a recognition for all the pizza makers that go in day after day, grinding and doing the work.
“As for any effect it’s had on business, we are fortunate enough to always have a strong customer base and have sold out of dough every night for the last few years, but we have definitely seen a lot more people lining up early to try to dine with us, a lot more traffic to our website, and a lot more event inquiries. Ultimately, you can’t rest on your laurels, and it makes me work harder to keep making Una better in every way.”