These days it seems there are as many different types of pizza as there are spots on map. New York, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Connecticut, California.
But one of the classic pizza styles didn’t originate on this side of the ocean, but rather roughly 4,600 miles away from Northern Virginia in Naples, Italy. We’re talking about a classic Neapolitan pizza.
Neapolitan pizzas usually feature a soft, thin dough with raised edges and are topped with simple, fresh ingredients like raw tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, olive oil, and more.
There are even official types of Neapolitan pizzas and official ways to make them, according to the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN).
That’s an Italian organization that keeps an eye on the art of making Neapolitan pizzas and bestows official recognition on certain pizzerias that meet its standards.
But that’s a lot of hype as far as we’re concerned. Northern Virginia has lots of places for great Neapolitan-style pizzas, whether “certified” or not.
With that in mind, here are Six Sensational Places to Find Neapolitan Pizza in Northern Virginia.
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Stellina Pizza
Multiple locations
Stellina Pizza refers to their pizzas as “Neo-Neapolitan,” baking them with a crisper crust that you might find on a traditional Neapolitan. And that’s proven popular with customers who rave about the brands pies — enough so that they now have five locations.
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Ciao Osteria
14115 St. Germain Drive, Centreville
Ciao Osteria in Centreville calls their pizzas “authentic” and indeed — an Italian family is behind the much-raved about restaurant. Ciao proudly touts their AVPN certification on their website and — uniquely — they have a special menu dedicated just to the specific three types of officially sanctioned Neapolitan pizzas.
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Pupatella
Multiple locations
Pupatella may be the 800-pound gorilla in the Neapolitan pizza kitchen. With eight NoVa locations, plus two in DC, the fast-growing local brand is working on its first Maryland store. AVPN certified, Pupatella was created when its founder, Enzo Algarme, moved to the U.S. from Naples, Italy and couldn’t find pizza like at home.
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Crust
Two locations
Crust Pizzeria Napoletana is reguarly named to area best pizza lists. With two locations — one in Vienna and one in Herndon — Crust is AVPN-certified and cooks its pies in an authentic oven capable of reaching 1000º.
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A Modo Mio
5555 Langston Boulevard, Arlington
One of the granddaddies of the genre, A Modo Mio has been whipping up pizza pies in Arlington since 1978. Like many of the others, the restaurant is certified by the AVPN folks for using authentic ingredients and cooking methods.
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Fire Works Pizza
Three locations
We are definitely cheating a little with this one, but Fire Works Pizza is long a local favorite. They don’t call their pizzas Neapolitan pizzas. Rather they refer to them as simply “wood fired.” But they are definitely Neapolitan adjacent. Founded in Leesburg, there are now three NoVa Fire Works locations.
(Image at top of story: Ciao Osteria)