Best Pizza in Parma: Pizzerias Worth Your Evening

The two pizza styles you will meet in Parma

Pizza napoletana is a small, soft-centred disc with a raised, blistered rim, baked fast and eaten immediately. The canonical toppings are the Marinara, tomato with garlic, oregano and oil and no cheese, and the Margherita, tomato with mozzarella and basil. Order one of each between two people and you have the reference point against which every other pizzeria in the city is judged.

Pizza Alta is the Roman answer: a thick, focaccia-like base with an open crumb, crisp on the bottom and soft on top, usually baked in a tray and cut into squares. It sits closer to a bakery product than to a restaurant plate, which is why it works so well at lunch. Cavaedium in Parma serves this style, described as high, soft and crisp, with two spicchi in the Gambero Rosso guide.

There is a third, quicker tradition worth knowing: pizza al taglio, sold by weight from a tray and often eaten from a paper wrapper while walking. It is the right answer when you have a train to catch or a museum slot booked, and it is a lighter commitment than a full sit-down meal.

Da Michele Parma: the Neapolitan benchmark

Da Michele Parma is the local outpost of L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele, the Naples pizzeria whose own account traces the family's pizzaiolo tradition to 1870 and places Michele Condurro's first pizzeria in 1906, with the move to Via Cesare Sersale in 1930. Treat that story as the house's version of events rather than neutral history. What matters at the table is a short, disciplined menu built on long leavening and restrained toppings.

Start with the Marinara at 6.50 euros or the Margherita at 8.00 euros, both listed on the pizzeria's own menu. The Margherita comes with fior di latte from Agerola, the dairy town above the Amalfi Coast, plus Pecorino DOP and basil. If you want a richer version, the Margherita di Bufala at 12.00 euros swaps in buffalo mozzarella DOP.

The cheaper Margherita is not a lesser pizza, just a different balance: cow's milk mozzarella melts more quietly and lets the tomato lead. Order the bufala version when you want the tang and stretch of buffalo milk to dominate. Two pizze and a shared starter is a sensible order for two hungry adults.

What to order beyond Margherita at Da Michele

The fried items are where this kitchen shows off. The montanara fritta at 11.00 euros is a disc of dough fried before being finished with tomato, basil and Pecorino DOP, which gives a chewier, oilier crust than the oven-baked pizze. The calzone fritto at 12.00 euros takes the same approach to a folded, filled parcel. For something greener, the pizza di scarole at 13.00 euros tops the base with curly escarole, black olives, pine nuts and capers, a Savoy-style combination that is more bitter and more interesting than cheese-heavy options. The Napoletana at 10.00 euros adds Cetara anchovies, oregano and capers for a briny, southern flavour.

Salsiccia e friarielli at 13.00 euros brings sausage and Neapolitan broccoli rabe with provola, a pairing worth ordering if you have not met friarielli before. The Delizia di Burrata at 14.00 euros is a starter rather than a pizza, with smoked burrata, Prosciutto di Parma, olives and basil. Parma ham on a Naples-style menu is a neat reminder of where you are eating.

Cavaedium: Roman-style pizza Alta in the centre

Cavaedium, on Largo Ca' del Fabbro, bakes the Roman-style pizza Alta that Parma does particularly well: a tall, open-textured base that is soft through the middle and crisp where it meets the tray. A local listings site describes it with two spicchi in the Gambero Rosso guide, a recognition attributed to that guide rather than to the room.

Order by the slice or by weight, mix two or three toppings, and treat it as a light meal rather than a full dinner. Because the base is already baked and firm, pizza Alta travels better than a Neapolitan pizza, which collapses into its box within minutes. That makes it the better choice if you are carrying food back to an apartment.

If your evening plans are still open, The Best Restaurants in Parma and What to Order covers the sit-down side of the city in more depth.

Pizzeria Entrèe on Via Farini: eat in or take away

Pizzeria Entrèe sits at Via Farini 71 in the historic centre, close enough to the cathedral end of town to be useful before or after a walk through the centre. The pizzeria lists delivery, takeaway and outdoor seating among its services, and its page advertises a free service to book a table online, so you can reserve ahead or collect a box depending on the weather and your timetable.

It also advertises air conditioning, a rooftop bar and space for private events, which makes it one of the more flexible central options if you are eating with a group. The trade-off is the classic one: a central address on a busy street is convenient, but you are paying for position as much as for dough.

Parma rewards a slower lunch as well, and the pastry shops in Parma are worth a separate stop for a tortello da forno or a piece of cake with coffee.

Uagliò on Strada Cavour

Uagliò on Strada Cavour is a Neapolitan pizzeria in the middle of Parma's main shopping street, and a local listing singles out a pizza with a proper cornicione as its strength. That rim is the tell of a long-fermented, fast-baked dough, which puffs into a hollow, blistered edge.

The same source found the fried items less convincing, so build your order around the pizze rather than the fritti. Sitting on Strada Cavour also means you are steps from the city's main shopping and a short walk from the Piazza Garibaldi end of the centre.

Pizza by the slice and quick lunches

For a fast midday meal, look for a pizzeria al taglio or a focacceria rather than a restaurant. You point at a tray, name a weight in etti, the Italian unit of 100 grams, pay by the till and eat standing or on a bench. It is the cheapest way to eat well in Parma and the least fussy.

The province has its own cluster of takeaway pizzerie, from wood-fired ovens in Ponte Taro and Noceto to delivery-focused places in Salsomaggiore Terme. They are useful if you are staying outside the centre or coming in late, though the centre remains the easiest place to eat well on foot.

How to order and pay

In a sit-down pizzeria, expect a coperto, a small per-person cover charge that covers bread, table linen and service; it appears on the bill rather than being offered. Many places also charge for service, so read the receipt rather than assuming the total is wrong. Tipping is not expected beyond rounding up.

Asporto means takeaway, and it is usually cheaper because no table service is involved. Ask for it explicitly when you order, since a pizzeria will otherwise assume you are sitting down. For delivery, order directly with the venue where possible; Pizzeria Entrèe lists delivery and takeaway among its own services rather than sending you to an outside platform.

Evenings from Thursday to Saturday are the busiest, and a central table for four is worth booking a day or two ahead. Lunch is much easier, and the same pizza eaten at one in the afternoon comes with a quieter room. If you are flexible, shift the meal rather than the venue.

A sit-down pizza or a takeaway one?

Choose a sit-down pizzeria when the pizza is the point of the evening and when you want a fried starter, a proper plate and a slow glass of something local alongside it. Choose takeaway or a slice when you are eating between other plans, arriving late, or feeding children who will not sit still for two courses. The dough does not improve in a box, so eat a Neapolitan pizza as soon as you can.

One more local habit worth borrowing: finish with a coffee at the bar, ordering and paying at the till first, then handing the receipt to the barista. It is faster and cheaper than table service, and it is how most people in Parma actually end a meal.

Which pizzeria should you book?

Book Da Michele for the classic Neapolitan experience and order the Marinara plus a fried montanara; head to Cavaedium for Roman-style pizza Alta at lunch; use Pizzeria Entrèe on Via Farini when you want a central table or a takeaway box. Uagliò on Strada Cavour suits a shopping-day stop built around the cornicione.

If you have one evening only, choose by style and hunger rather than by reputation. The rest of your eating in the city, from cured pork to stuffed pasta, is covered in The Best Restaurants in Parma and What to Order.