First Woman To Win Pizza Maker Of The Year—Meet Giorgia Caporuscio

Talking about pizza preferences can be fighting words for some. Pizza pride gets personal, it can get political, and can be downright polarizing, like when pineapple enters the conversation. And yet, many of us will agree it is one of our favorite foods to eat, especially when hanging with friends. Thick dough, thin dough, fermented dough, wood-fired oven, brick oven, sauce or no sauce, the choices are endless. Sometimes it's better if the pros step in and give us a little push. Well, the chatter can be put to rest since the heads at —the PhDs of pizza from the motherland—recently crowned Giorgia Caporuscio

Of course such a title is a crowing achievement for anyone playing with golden dough, but for a woman to win the award when there are usually so few in the room, is a truly historic turn of events. After nearly 15 years in the country, in part working alongside her father in his restaurants in New York, Caporuscio took home the prize this year, which cracks the ceiling—or dare we say, pizza ovens—for women everywhere.

The awards were announced this summer but the ceremony on the grand stage took place on September 10 in Naples, Italy. "I'm so happy and so surprised, even though I've worked for so many years—physically, mentally, 14 hours a day—for this moment," said Caporuscio in an interview at her restaurant Don Antonio before the international ceremony took place.

Caporuscio became an early founding member of Women in Pizza a few years ago in order to make way for the very thing she is being recognized for; she and the other members support each other in the effort of having a revered place in the pizza kitchen, from restaurants and festivals to major competitions. Recognition for Caporuscio and the existence of organizations like Women in Pizza are helping re-write the pizza game completely.

Not only has Caporuscio won the prestigious pizzaiola of the year award, but her restaurant Don Antonio, in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, was named Number 7 in the U.S. and Number 30 in the world.

"Giorgia is the jewel of the Italian and Italian American food community in New York," mentioned Andrew Cotto , longtime journalist, author, and Editor-in-Chief of Appetito . "She is beloved because of passion, talent and effusive energy. It's wonderful to see that she is appropriately recognized for her place among us." Cotto also sat down with Caporuscio for a Q & A in Appetito, his one-year old publication that covers all things Italian.

Caporuscio's style of making pizza also breaks from the norm. You won't see her or her team throwing dough in the air. Instead, she believes in a gentler method, one she told Marysol Castro and Alex Lee of Pix 11 this summer that is more like "her yoga," which she believe contributes to the popular light and airy pies they produce at Don Antonio. She demonstrated on the show how the movement incorporates soft presses and turns, much unlike the air spins we've all grown to expect from the pizza-making process.

Don Antonio restaurant opened in 2012, and has been a destination for fried pizza, pizza fritta, for years. They offer seven different pizza fritta in addition to 45 types of Neapolitan pizza, all of which undergo a 48-hour fermentation. Each pie is quickly dipped into the deep-fryer—like zeppole—before adding toppings, then finished for a minute in the wood-fired oven to evaporate any remaining oil, giving way to a light, crispy exterior and deeply satisfying chewy center. Caporuscio' signature is the La Montanara, which includes tomato sauce, smoked buffalo mozzarella, and basil.-

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Caporuscio's father, Roberto—who originally opened Don Antonio—and co-owns Kesté Pizza e Vino in Manhattan' Financial District, preceded his daughter with accolades of his own for his Neapolitan style pizza. Also president of the Pizza Academy Foundation , the elite Italian governing body that teaches the 300-year-old art of Neapolitan pizza making, maestro Caporuscio teaches classes at his restaurant and certifies adherence to authentic procedures.

The icing on the pizza pie for Caporuscio is that she also captured a special recognition Empower Women - Fedegroup Award for being a source of inspiration to female pizza makers around the World, another honor bestowed at the 50 Top Pizza World 2024 ceremony on September 10.

Caporuscio is expecting her second child with husband, Matteo, who works alongside her at the restaurant, which just reopened on September 17 after two weeks of renovations. Caporuscio is also preparing for an appearance as a guest chef at Harvard's popular Food Science lab on September 30 where she explain everything from her choice of ingredients and technique to fermentation.

National Pizza Month is just ahead and National Pizza Day is around the corner on February 9; but many people agree every pizza bite is something to celebrate.