Best Pizza in Modena: Neapolitan Pizzerias Worth Your Dinner

What Modena's Pizza Scene Looks Like

Modena is not Naples, and the pizzerias worth your evening know it. The strongest addresses lean Neapolitan, which means dough given a long natural rise, high hydration so the base stays soft, and a crust that puffs and chars rather than crisps flat. That style suits Modena's habit of eating late and sharing a table: a pizza here is a full plate, not a snack before dinner.

The result is a short list rather than a long one. One pizzeria carries a national guide listing traceable to the dough work of a single family, another sells sourdough-leavened Neapolitan pizza alongside a full seafood kitchen, and a third sits out in the province. Read the dough described on the menu and you will know within a minute which kind of evening you are booking.

Pizzeria Vesuvio: The Pipolo Family Dough Since 1973

Pizzeria Vesuvio sits on Strada Vignolese just off the Modena Sud motorway exit, a contemporary room on the immediate outskirts rather than in the historic centre. According to 50 Top Pizza, the dough the Pipolo family prepares dates back to 1973, and the result is a pizza with a soft, melting bite and a pronounced crust, topped with ingredients drawn from both Emilia-Romagna and Campania. The same listing places it among the guide's Pizzerie Eccellenti for 2023, so treat that as recognition from that year rather than a live ranking.

Order the Arturo. It comes with fiordilatte, a mild stretched-curd cow's milk cheese, plus garlic, grilled artichokes, smoked pancetta and a parsley pesto, a combination that shows off the kitchen's balance of Emilian cured pork and southern Italian toppings. The menu also runs classic pizzas, pizza al metro (metre-long, meant for a group) and a gourmet line. If you are staying in the historic centre, treat Strada Vignolese as a short car or bus ride out rather than a stroll.

The Other Vesuvio Addresses: Via Rainusso and Carpi

Vesuvio also operates at Via Rainusso 126 in Modena and on Via Guido Fassi 9 in Carpi, roughly 20 kilometres north of the city. 50 Top Pizza describes the Strada Vignolese site as a few kilometres from the Modena Sud exit, which makes it the natural choice if you are arriving by car from Bologna or the south. For an evening based in the centre, Via Rainusso is the address to ask about first.

Whichever branch you choose, the dough and the topping sourcing are what you are going for, so the trade-off is atmosphere versus convenience. The out-of-town room is described as contemporary and spacious; the others suit a night when transport matters more than the drive. Check when you book which branch and table you actually want, since not every address takes walk-ins.

La Costiera: Sourdough Pizza and Seafood on Strada Morane

La Costiera Ristorante e Pizzeria at Strada Morane 413 combines two kitchens under one roof: a pizzeria and a seafood restaurant founded by chef Hassan Rady. The pizzas are Neapolitan in style but leavened with lievito madre, a sourdough starter, with hydration above 70 per cent, which gives a soft, easily digestible base with a light crumb. That detail matters if standard long-rise dough has left you heavy before; the starter brings a gentle tang to the crust.

The pizza side offers classic Neapolitan toppings and takeaway, so a box to eat elsewhere is possible. The restaurant side leans on the sea, with seafood dishes and a large sharing platter the restaurant calls the Spadone del Pirata, listed on its site at 119 euro for two people and built around two lobsters or langoustines, giant octopus tentacles, large cuttlefish, squid, prawns and sliced tuna with sweet-and-sour onion. That price is the restaurant's own listed promotion, so treat it as illustrative rather than a permanent menu price and confirm the current offer when you book.

The practical choice is whether you want a pizza evening or a seafood one, because mixing both at a single table gets expensive and confusing. Go with pizza and a shared starter if you are a couple on a budget; go with the fish if the table wants to linger over a bigger spread. Either way, phone ahead, as the restaurant's own site promotes booking and takeaway orders rather than a walk-in queue.

La Smorfia in Nonantola: The Province Pizzeria

La Smorfia in Nonantola appears among the sixteen Emilia-Romagna pizzerias selected as Pizzerie Eccellenti by 50 Top Pizza Italia in 2025. That is a regional shortlist rather than a national podium, but it puts the province on the map for readers who would rather drive out than eat in the centre. Il Resto del Carlino lists it alongside the better-known names in Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia, Bologna and Ferrara.

Nonantola also has the Abbazia di Nonantola, a Benedictine abbey with a Romanesque facade, so the drive works as a half-day rather than a pure pizza run. The trade-off is obvious: you get a quieter room and a local crowd, but you need a car or a train plus a walk, and you should check the evening's service before setting out. In a city where the best tables fill early, a short trip out can be the easier booking.

How to Order Pizza in Modena

Three formats turn up on Modena menus, and each sets the size of your evening. A pizza tonda is a single round pizza for one person; pizza al metro arrives as a long rectangular slab, usually shared by three or four; and the gourmet line means a more composed pizza built on premium toppings, priced higher per head than a classic. Ask what size the pizza is before ordering two each, because a gourmet pizza rarely fills the same gap as a classic one.

Toppings are worth translating once. Fiordilatte is mild stretched-curd cow's milk cheese, the standard base cheese on a Neapolitan pizza; pancetta affumicata is smoked cured pork belly; and lievito madre is a sourdough starter rather than baker's yeast. If a menu says lievitazione naturale, it means the dough was raised naturally, usually over a day or more.

Order at the table from a waiter in both pizzerias described here; there is no counter system to learn. Say 'una pizza' per person, add a shared starter if the table is hungry, and expect the bill to include coperto, a small per-person cover charge that pays for bread and service. Tipping is optional on top of that.

What to Drink with Pizza, and How Paying Works

Modena is in Emilia-Romagna, and the local reds served with pizza tend to be lighter and fizzy rather than heavy. A dry sparkling red cuts through a smoky pancetta or a salty seafood topping because its acidity balances the fat. Order it by the glass if you are keeping the evening light, or share a bottle across a metre of pizza. Sparkling water and a coffee afterwards are perfectly normal choices at a Modena table.

Paying at the table by card is standard in this price bracket, but keep some cash for a small bar or a market stall earlier in the day. Ask for the bill rather than waiting for it, since Italian tables are not rushed. If you want something before dinner, an aperitivo in Modena is a good way to open the evening without turning it into a long bar crawl.

Neapolitan Pizza Versus the Rest of Emilia-Romagna

Emilia-Romagna has its own flatbread traditions, from piadina and crescione to tigelle and gnocco fritto, and Modena's tables serve them alongside the pizza oven. Those are worth ordering as a starter: gnocco fritto, puffed fried dough, with salumi is the classic opener before a pizza, and it is a better use of appetite than a second pizza.

The Neapolitan pizzerias in this guide are therefore a deliberate choice rather than the whole story of eating in Modena. If your trip is built around ragù, balsamic vinegar and the city's fine-dining rooms, see the Best Restaurants in Modena for the wider map. Pizza is the easy, affordable night that sits between the big meals.

For a sense of how far Modena's cooking reaches, the city is home to Osteria Francescana, Massimo Bottura's three-Michelin-star restaurant, which sits at the opposite end of the scale from a shared metre of pizza. Book it months out if that is the goal, and keep a pizzeria in reserve for the night you land tired.

Which Modena Pizzeria Should You Book?

Book Pizzeria Vesuvio on Strada Vignolese if you want the definitive Neapolitan dough and are happy to drive or take a short ride out of the centre, and order the Arturo. Choose La Costiera on Strada Morane if you want sourdough-leavened pizza with the option of a full seafood dinner, or if takeaway suits your evening better. Save La Smorfia in Nonantola for a day when you have a car and want to combine the abbey with a quieter table.