Best Pizza in Genoa: Where to Eat It, From Albaro to Sturla

Genoa's pizza styles in brief

You will meet four things on a Genoese pizza menu. Neapolitan-style pizza has a soft, blistered rim; thin and crisp pizza suits anyone who prefers crunch to chew; pinsa is a Roman-style oval base with a lighter, airier crumb; and pizza al metro arrives as a long metre-long strip, built for sharing. Farinata, a thin chickpea-flour flatbread baked in the same ovens, is a separate pleasure and often the best thing on the table.

Knowing which of these you want changes where you go. A craving for crackling-thin pizza points you towards Quinto, while a group that wants to pick at one long strip should head for Castelletto. Pinsa fans have their own addresses in Nervi and Castelletto, and anyone curious about farinata will find it at several pizzerias that bake both.

Pizzeria Del Ponte, Albaro: the address in via Pisa

Pizzeria Del Ponte has two addresses, via Pisa and via Oreste De Gaspari, and a second site in Recco that has been running since 1998. It appears in a selection of Genoese pizzerias published in May 2022 and republished in January 2023, so treat it as a long-standing local name rather than a new opening. Albaro is a smart residential quarter east of the centre, which makes this a sensible stop if you are staying along the Levante waterfront.

Franz & Co, Struppa: pizza and farinata

Franz & Co sits in via Struppa, in a residential valley quarter north-east of the centre, and it is one of the addresses in that published selection. Local coverage singles out its farinata, which makes it a good choice if you want to try the chickpea flatbread alongside a pizza rather than instead of one. The trade-off is distance: Struppa is not a stroll from the old town, so plan the trip there as the evening's main outing.

Panificio Mario, via San Vincenzo: a bakery address for pizza

Panificio Mario in via San Vincenzo is a bakery that also turns out pizza, and it belongs to the same published list of Genoese pizzerias. The name matters: a panificio is a bread bakery, so expect a bakery counter alongside the pizza. Via San Vincenzo is central and close to the shopping streets, which makes this the easiest address on this page to fold into a day of walking.

Osteria della Piazza, piazza Colombo: pizza in an osteria

Osteria della Piazza on piazza Colombo pairs pizza with the atmosphere of an osteria, a simple wine-and-food tavern, and appears in the May 2022 selection. An osteria setting suits a mixed group where not everyone wants pizza. The address is central enough to reach on foot from the old town.

Al Pisacane, via Pisacane: a neighbourhood pizzeria

Al Pisacane on via Pisacane is another neighbourhood address from that selection, set away from the main visitor circuit. That is the appeal: a pizzeria where the evening is built around the tables rather than the view. If you are staying in the eastern part of the centre, it is worth checking how far it is from your door before committing, since via Pisacane does not sit on the obvious tourist routes.

Piuma, Sturla: pizza in the eastern quarters

Piuma in via Tabarca, in Sturla, represents the eastern coastal quarters that Genoese families treat as their own. It was included in the May 2022 selection of city pizzerias. Sturla sits along the Levante coast east of Albaro, so this is a natural stop if you are heading back from a swim or staying out that way.

Savô and Totò e Peppino: two more central names

Savô on via al Ponte Calvi sits in the historic centre near the caruggi, the narrow old-town alleys where Genoa's street food culture lives, and it too features in that published selection. Totò e Peppino on via Archimede is another name on the list, useful when you want a central address on the eastern edge of the old town. Both put you close to the Centro Storico for the rest of the evening.

Ten more addresses beyond the shortlist

The same local round-up adds its own picks beyond the published selection. La Pizza di Egizio in Quinto suits anyone who likes it thin and crisp; Pinsotto in Nervi serves pinsa with a sea view; Exultate on piazza Lavagna keeps things in the old town; Montallegro on via Mura delle Chiappe does pizza al metro with a view over Genoa; Fra Diavolo on via Bernardo Castello keeps to Neapolitan style; and Antica Vaccheria on via Bertani makes pinsa in Castelletto. It also names La Funicolare on Corso Magenta for farinata and pizza, Le Pizze di Koppa on viale Villa Gavotti for generous toppings, and Voglia di pizza a Pra' as a Ponente favourite.

Where the pizzerias sit by quarter

Grouped by geography, the centre gives you Panificio Mario in via San Vincenzo, Osteria della Piazza on piazza Colombo, Al Pisacane, Savô in the old town and Exultate on piazza Lavagna. Albaro and the Levante side add Pizzeria Del Ponte, Piuma in Sturla and Pinsotto in Nervi, while the north-eastern valley quarters hold Franz & Co in Struppa. Castelletto has Antica Vaccheria, and Quinto and Pra' cover the western edge of the city.

That spread is the practical point. If you are staying centrally, you can eat pizza every night without leaving the old town. If you are out towards Nervi or Sturla, the better addresses are already near you, and a long trek back into the centre for dinner is unnecessary.

What to order alongside pizza

Farinata is the obvious companion, and the pizzerias that bake it often serve it as a starter while the pizza goes in the oven. Focaccia and focaccia al formaggio, a flatbread filled with cheese, turn up at several of the same ovens and are worth ordering for the table rather than as a personal portion. Pesto is claimed by the city as its own, and a plate of trofie with pesto before pizza is a Genoese habit rather than a tourist one; our guide to pesto in Genoa explains the dish properly.

The same restaurants tend to serve the full Ligurian repertoire. Da Ninni in via Redipuglia, for instance, bakes pizza in a wood-fired oven and also lists farinata, minestrone, stufato alla genovese (a slow beef stew) and trofie with pesto among its regional dishes, so a pizza night there can double as a first taste of the region. If you would rather build the meal around pasta, our pick of the best pasta in Genoa covers that ground.

Ordering works the way it does across Italy. A coperto, a small per-person cover charge, is normal and appears on the bill; you order at the table and pay at the end rather than at a till on the way in. Portions of pizza al metro are sold by length, so agree on how much the table wants before it lands.

Booking, timing and August

The pizzerias in the centre fill up at the Italian dinner hour, which starts later than in Britain, so arriving early or reserving ahead makes a difference on a Friday or Saturday. Outer-quarter addresses are easier to walk into, though a table is still worth securing if you are crossing town for it. Phone the restaurant directly or use its own site; that way you also confirm the current opening days before you travel.

August catches Genoa less severely than the small towns, but individual ovens close for holidays and reopened addresses change. The list cited here dates from May 2022 and was republished in January 2023, and it already noted that Pulcinella in via V Maggio had closed at that point, which is a reminder that even recent round-ups go stale. Check the pizzeria's own page for the current position rather than relying on an older list.

Which pizzeria fits your evening?

Choose by quarter and by style. For thin and crisp, head to Quinto; for Neapolitan softness, Fra Diavolo keeps to that style; for pinsa, Nervi and Castelletto have you covered; and for a shareable metre of pizza with a view over the city, Montallegro is the one. Central addresses such as Savô, Exultate and Panificio Mario save the journey entirely.

Build the rest of the day around food rather than sights: a bakery stop in the morning, focaccia at lunch, and pizza in the evening is a fair summary of how Genoa eats. If you want the wider map of where the city's kitchens sit, from osterie to markets, the best restaurants in Genoa is the place to start.