Franco Pepe honoured as first Pizza Legend at The Best Pizza awards in Milan – and honorary president too

Italian pizzaiolo Franco Pepe has this week been named the recipient of the inaugural Pizza Legend Award at The Best Pizza ceremony in Milan  The distinction was presented for the first time and was created to recognise Pepe’s body of work as an educator, innovator and ambassador for the craft, acknowledging his impact on the way pizza is perceived globally. The Best Pizza is part of The Best Chef Awards, and Pepe is also the first – and so far only – pizza chef to have received the Two Knives distinction from the intituation.

A spokesperson for The Best Pizza said: “Through passion, vision and an uncompromising commitment to excellence, Franco Pepe has inspired millions and shaped an entire generation of pizzaioli, cooks and producers who have devoted their lives to this craft. He has taken pizza from tradition to culture, from craft to art, from a local heritage to a language the whole world now speaks, understands and admires.”

During the afternoon, Pepe and chef Rasmus Munk, of Restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen, took part in a Pizza Talks 2026 panel titled Cross-Contamination of Craft: When Fine Dining Meets Pizza, which examined the relationship between high-level cuisine and traditional pizza-making.

The chef has also been given the role of honorary president and educational inspiration ambassador of The Best Pizza, a position focused on mentoring and supporting the next generation of industry professionals internationally. Under Pepe’s guidance, the organisation intends to launch a global education platform for emerging pizzaioli, aimed at providing young talent with training, mentorship and opportunities within the industry.

Pepe received a standing ovation from hundreds of chefs and gastronomy professionals as he took the stage. He contemplated the recognition and his new role, saying: “Being honoured with the Legend award leads me to a profound reflection. This is not an award based on rankings or results; rather, as its name suggests, it is a recognition of respect and admiration, values that have always been the cornerstones of my journey. I have always admired and respected those who, when I was still nobody, stood out and excelled above the rest. I looked up to them in order to learn and grow. This has been the key to my path: respect first, which then allowed me to develop my own identity and follow my own direction. For this reason, receiving this recognition gives me great satisfaction. I often reflect on a quote by Heraclitus: ‘The only constant in life is change.’ Throughout my life, I have gone through many different stages, all marked by change, which has allowed me to grow and become the person I am today. My professional life has been a remarkable experience, and for that I am deeply grateful.”

He is among the best-known Italian pizza chefs internationally, having been born into the craft. His grandfather was a baker and his father a pizzaiolo, a family tradition he has continued. His reputation grew after Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold described one of his creations as “probably the best pizza in the world”. He was named Best Pizzaiolo in the Phaidon guide Where to Eat Pizza and appeared in an episode of the Netflix series Chef’s Table: Pizza. His pizzeria, Pepe in Grani, is located in Caiazzo, a town of around 6,000 inhabitants in the province of Caserta, where it serves around 400 guests and prepares approximately 800 pizzas daily.

The organisers closed the awards ceremony by aptly pointing out: “Legends do not follow history. They write it.”

Food Desk

For further information about Franco Pepe, visit the chef’s Instagram here.

For further information about The Best Pizza awards and the organisation’s educational initiatives, visit their website here.