The finals of the Vera Pizza Napoletana Champion 2026 took place in Naples from 15 to 17 September at the Ristorante della Piscina in the Mostra d'Oltremare. Over three days, 355 pizzaioli from 30 countries and all continents competed for the 2026 titles.
Italy won the Coppa delle Nazioni "Trofeo Lello Surace" and finished at the top of the medal table with seven awarded pizzaioli: four gold medals, one silver and two bronzes.
The major breakout result came from Japan, which earned four medals. Japan won gold in both the Margherita and Marinara categories, the two categories reported by both the Campania food-press account and ANSA.
Across the championship, 27 individual medalists were awarded in seven categories: Margherita, Marinara, Pizza Fritta, Mastunicola, Calzone Napoletano, Gourmet and Amatori. The validated sources do not provide a complete official ranking for every category, and full judging scores were not published in the acquired reports.
The scale of participation gives context to the results. With 355 competitors from 30 countries, the Naples finals brought together pizzaioli from all continents, while the medals were concentrated among a smaller group of finalists: Italy with seven awarded competitors and Japan with four.
The championship also assigned three special recognitions. Emanuele Rossi of Italy, aged 21, was recognized as the youngest competitor. Gonzalo Garay of Chile was recognized as the competitor who travelled the farthest. Claudia Pelletier of Canada was recognized as the highest-scoring woman.
In summary, the 2026 edition ended with Italy first in the Nations Cup standings, Japan winning the Margherita and Marinara gold medals, and medals distributed across professional and amateur categories contested in Naples.
