Best Pizza in Taormina: Pizzerias Worth Your Evening

Best pizza in Taormina: the short answer

Pick Villa Zuccaro if the dough itself is the point: it is known for long-fermented bases, a wood-fired oven and carefully chosen ingredients. Pick La Napoletana for a Neapolitan-inspired pie in a relaxed room, or Tiramisù when half the table would rather eat Sicilian cooking and the other half wants a pizza in the middle. Bella Blu makes sense as a terrace stop near the Isola Bella end of town, and it also makes gluten-free pizza and dishes for coeliac diners.

Treat these as four different shapes of evening rather than a ranking. Two are pizzerias first, one is a restaurant that also makes pizza, and one sits by a cable car station where you may well be coming back from the beach. If pizza is one meal in a wider Taormina eating plan, match it to your day: a sit-down pie after a hot afternoon, a slice at lunch, or something quick before the light goes.

What Taormina pizza is like: wood-fired bases, generous toppings and a Neapolitan streak

The pizza you meet in Taormina leans on slow-risen dough and a wood-fired oven, with a Neapolitan-inspired style showing up on several menus. That means a blistered, pliable rim, a lighter base than a thick tray bake, and toppings built around local ingredients and whatever fish and vegetables are in season. Villa Zuccaro is the clearest example, known specifically for long leavening, a wood-fired oven and quality produce.

Ordering meat-free is easy, and the classic Sicilian repertoire travels well onto a pizza base. Keep an eye out for aubergine, which appears in local cooking in the pasta alla Norma tradition and makes a natural pizza topping alongside salted ricotta. If you want a genuinely local starter before the pizza arrives, look for arancini, the fried rice balls that turn up on plenty of Taormina menus as street food.

Villa Zuccaro: long-fermented dough and a wood-fired oven

Villa Zuccaro is the address to choose when you want to taste the difference the dough makes. The pizzeria's name rests on long fermentation, baking in a wood-fired oven and ingredients chosen with care. Go for a classic base first: margherita or something with a few strong ingredients, so the crust is not buried.

A long-leavened, wood-fired base is lighter than it looks, but it also means the pizza rewards eating soon after it lands. If you are sharing, order one or two pizzas between you and add a starter rather than piling up a pizza each. Villa Zuccaro is a sit-down pizzeria rather than a slice counter, so plan it as the main meal of the evening.

La Napoletana: Neapolitan-style pizza in a relaxed setting

La Napoletana is the choice for anyone who wants a pizza in the Neapolitan mould without a formal restaurant feel. It is a straightforward, comfortable place where the pizza is the reason you are there, and it widens the options beyond Taormina's traditional Sicilian kitchens. Come here when the group is happy with one cuisine and nobody needs convincing.

A Neapolitan-style pie is wetter in the centre and softer in the rim than a Roman-style one, so eat it with a knife and fork for the first few bites if you want to keep the topping on the slice. Keep the order simple: a classic tomato and mozzarella base is the fairest test of any pizzeria, then add a second with something cured or spicy if you are hungry.

Ristorante Pizzeria Tiramisù: pizza alongside Sicilian cooking in the historic centre

Ristorante Pizzeria Tiramisù sits in the historic centre and offers both pizza topped with quality ingredients and traditional Sicilian dishes built around the day's catch. That dual menu is the point: it solves the table where one person wants pizza and another wants seafood, which happens constantly in Taormina. Choose it for a mixed group rather than for pizza as a pure pursuit.

If you go this route, order a pizza to share as a starter and let the fish take the main course, or do the reverse if the catch of the day looks unremarkable. The trade-off is that a restaurant making both pizza and full Sicilian plates rarely beats a dedicated pizzeria on the base alone. For the wider picture of where to eat in town, see our guide to the best restaurants in Taormina.

Bella Blu: pizza near the Isola Bella cable car, with gluten-free options

Bella Blu stands on Via Pirandello beside the funivia, the cable car that runs down to Isola Bella, and it works as a terrace meal with a sea view rather than a detour into the centre. The kitchen turns out Sicilian and international dishes, and the place doubles as a pizzeria. For anyone coming back up from the beach, it is the least effortful pizza in town.

The restaurant states that it makes gluten-free pizzas and dishes for coeliac guests, which makes it a useful name if someone at the table cannot eat wheat. Order at the start of the meal so the kitchen can handle the base separately, and confirm on the day what the gluten-free menu covers.

Pizza as a quick stop: pizza by the slice and fried street food

Not every pizza moment in Taormina needs a table. Pizza al taglio, literally pizza by the cut, is sold by weight from counters and trays, and it is the right answer for a fast lunch between the historic centre and the cable car. Pick out the piece you want, so it suits a light appetite or a group that cannot agree on a restaurant.

Fried street food does the same job. Arancini, panelle (chickpea fritters) and cartocci of mixed fried fish and vegetables are sold from kiosks in the centre, and they let you keep moving through a day of walking. Save a sit-down pizza for the evening, when the ovens and the terraces are doing what they do best.

How to order and eat pizza in Taormina

Menus list pizza by its toppings rather than by a style name, so read down the list: margherita is tomato and mozzarella, marinara is tomato, garlic, oregano and oil with no cheese. Order drinks before the food, since the kitchen fires pizzas quickly. Coperto, a small per-person cover charge, often appears on the bill in sit-down places, so check the menu if you want to know before you order.

Pizza is usually a dinner dish, eaten later than you might at home, and a shared pizza plus a starter is a normal way to order. Many places bring bottled water unless you ask for tap. Pay at the table in restaurants; in cafés and counters, pay at the till first. If you want a pudding afterwards, a cannolo siciliano, the crisp fried tube filled with sheep's ricotta, is the local standard, and our pick of pastry shops in Taormina covers where to find a good one.

Timing matters in August, when Taormina fills up and the best tables go early. Book the dedicated pizzerias for the evening sitting, or arrive as they open if you are a walk-in. For a longer stay, our guide to cooking classes in Taormina is the way to learn the dough and the local sauces hands-on rather than just eating them.

Which pizzeria should you book tonight?

Book Villa Zuccaro if you want the best expression of Taormina's dough-and-oven pizza, La Napoletana if you want a relaxed Neapolitan pie, and Tiramisù if the table is split between pizza and seafood. Bella Blu is the one to keep for a beach day by Isola Bella, especially if someone needs gluten-free pizza.