NEPA-native honored as best pizza-maker in America
May 2—Vitangelo Recchia, an NEPA-native who runs a successful restaurant in Florida, took 2nd place in the entire world for his Roman pan pizza and was named "Best Pizza Maker in America" at an international pizza competition in Italy.
Recchia was invited to Parma, Italy in April to compete in the World Pizza Competition with US Pizza Team. He finished second in the world with this pan-style pizza and scored highest among all American-born competitors.
2001 Dallas area graduate, Vitangelo Recchia and his brothers all grew up working at their family business, Dino's Pizza, by JCPenny in the Wyoming Valley Mall. Now, Peter Recchia runs the Dino's in the Wilkes-Barre mall, Angelo Recchia runs Angelo's Pizza in the food court in the Viewmont Mall, and Vitangelo, after studying cuisine all over the world, now runs his own restaurant and pizzeria, Bella Napoli in Port Charlotte, Florida.
Recchia's winning dish for the Teglia division competition? His Roman pizza recipe with porcini dust, oyster mushrooms, lardo di colannata, king trumpet mushrooms, pioppini mushrooms, sausage, mozzarella, Stracchino cheese, and arugula, and 30-month aged Parmigano Reggiano. Which sounds...to die for!
Recchia was new this year to the US Pizza Team, but that didn't hold him back from standing at the winners' podium at his first Campionato Mondiale della Pizza outing. The competition took place in Parma, Italy and saw over 800 pizza-makers from 30 different countries compete for winning titles.
