Review
If there is one pizzeria in Italy worth a special trip—together with Pepe in Grani—it is I Masanielli in Caserta. The setting may be industrial and nondescript, but what emerges from Francesco Martucci’s ovens is anything but ordinary. Probably the best pizza I have ever had in Italy, it proves that if pizza can be a culinary masterpiece, this is it.
Standout creations include Made in Caserta, with tomato, buffalo mozzarella and knife-cut sausage lifted by fennel; a remarkable San Marzano DOP pizza with Modenese Parmesan and cherry tomato confit, cooked in three different stages—steamed, fried and baked; and an ode to onions, layered through cream, fermentation, crisp and burnt textures, with onion mayonnaise and fior di latte. Each bite shows how Martucci transforms tradition into something truly inventive.
From a tiny takeaway opened in 2001, I Masanielli has grown into an institution of contemporary pizza. Since 2017 it has been located near the Reggia di Caserta, earning numerous accolades including multiple awards from 50 Top Pizza. Yet labels matter less than the experience itself: this is pizza at its most ambitious and expressive, a destination in its own right.