FRANCO PEPE CROWNED A PIZZA LEGEND BY THE BEST PIZZA 2026
The organization also announced his new role as Honorary President and Educational Inspiration Ambassador of The Best Pizza
Milan, 24th of June – Franco Pepe received a standing ovation from hundreds of chefs and gastronomy professionals on Tuesday as he took the stage at The Best Pizza ceremony to receive the inaugural Pizza Legend Award, presented by The Best Chef Awards in Milan. Alongside the distinction, the organisation announced Franco Pepe as Honorary President and Educational Inspiration Ambassador of The Best Pizza, a role dedicated to guiding, mentoring, and inspiring the next generation of pizza professionals worldwide.
The Best Pizza by The Best Chef Awards honoured Franco Pepe for permanently redefining the world’s relationship with pizza – as a mentor, innovator, ambassador, and builder of a legacy that continues to grow. Presented for the first time in the award’s history, the Pizza Legend distinction was created expressly to recognise the singular magnitude of Pepe’s life’s work.
“Every generation has its masters. But only a very few become legends,” said the organisers. “A legend is not made by awards, rankings, or recognition. A legend is made by something far harder to measure – the ability to transform a craft, to elevate an entire community, and to leave behind something that outlives you.” said The Best Pizza.
“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”, added The Best Pizza about the master pizzaiolo.
Franco Pepe demonstrated that greatness begins with respect: for ingredients, for people, for the land, and for knowledge. His name became synonymous with excellence. His journey set the benchmark against which the entire industry measures itself. And his influence reaches far beyond pizza alone.
During the afternoon, Franco Pepe and visionary chef Rasmus Munk (Restaurant Alchemist, Copenhagen) also headlined the major Pizza Talks 2026 panel titled «Cross-Contamination of Craft: When Fine Dining Meets Pizza,» focusing on the future of gastronomy and how high-level cuisine and traditional pizza-making continue to inspire one another.
As the first – and only – pizza chef ever to receive the Two Knives distinction from The Best Chef Awards, Pepe has become one of the most influential figures in contemporary gastronomy.
A new chapter begins for Franco Pepe. Visibly moved by the recognition and reflecting on his new role, he said: ”Being honored with the 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.”
The award gives enduring form to a simple conviction: the greatest achievement of a legend is not what he builds himself, but who he inspires others to become.
Under Franco Pepe’s guidance, The Best Pizza will launch a global education platform for the next generation of pizzaioli, designed to provide young talent around the world with the knowledge, mentorship, and opportunity needed to turn promise into mastery.
“Legends do not follow history. They write it,” said The Best Pizza organisers at the close of the ceremony.
About Franco Pepe
Franco Pepe is widely considered the most famous Italian pizzaiolo in the world. Dough runs in his DNA: his grandfather was a baker, his father a pizzaiolo, and he has carried forward the family tradition. His international reputation was further strengthened by an article written by Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold, who described his creation as “probably the best pizza in the world.” He was named Best Pizzaiolo in the guide Where to Eat Pizza by Phaidon and is featured in an episode of the Netflix series Chef’s Table: Pizza. He has received numerous awards, including: Pizza Legend Award (2026, The Best Pizza), the only Two Knives for a pizza Chef (The Best Chef Awards), World’s Best Pizza Chef (2021–2024), «Artisan & Authenticity Award» by La Liste 2025, Ambassador of the Mediterranean Diet, Ambassador of the Territory, Pizzaiolo of the Year by Food and Travel, Pizza Awards Italia, and Maestro dell’Arte Bianca from ALMA, The International School of Italian Cuisine.
About Pepe in Grani
Pepe in Grani is Franco Pepe’s pizzeria located in Caiazzo, a town of 5,000 inhabitants in the province of Caserta, where it welcomes around 400 guests per day and prepares approximately 800 pizzas daily. The project is built on the research of raw materials, innovation and the valorisation of human capital, with a scientific approach to frying techniques, the use of electric ovens and the design of kitchen equipment. Its pizza is born from innovation while remaining deeply rooted in tradition.
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