Florida-style crust and Roman technique put two U.S. Pizza Team members among the Sunshine State’s best.
Florida may not have the centuries-old pizza pedigree of Naples, the foldable-slice mythology of New York or New Haven’s charred claim to fame. But Vitangelo “Vito” Recchia of Bella Napoli Pizzeria & Restaurant in Port Charlotte and Enrico Aguila of Uncle Rico’s Pizza in Fort Myers are making a strong case that the Sunshine State deserves its own seat at the pizza table.
Both U.S. Pizza Team members earned recognition in Guide to Florida’s 2026 Best of Florida Awards. Bella Napoli was named a statewide winner in two categories, Pizza Joints and Italian Restaurants, while Uncle Rico’s received an honorable mention among Florida’s best pizza joints. Together, the two pizzerias turned the statewide spotlight toward Southwest Florida, where serious pizza makers are building reputations that extend beyond their local neighborhoods.
For Recchia and his wife, Theresa, earning two awards carries additional weight because they understand everything customers never see. “People see the finished plate and the dining room,” Recchia said. “They don’t necessarily see the long days, the sacrifices, the mistakes, the adjustments and the constant push to get one percent better.”
Although their names are attached to Bella Napoli, Recchia said the recognition belongs to the entire restaurant. Its employees execute the couple’s vision every day, while loyal guests keep giving them the opportunity to pursue it. “Awards are great, but they don’t give you permission to become comfortable,” he said. “If anything, they raise the standard.”
Winning in both categories recognizes the two sides of Bella Napoli. The Pizza Joints award speaks to the restaurant’s dough, fermentation, ingredients, technique and consistency, while the Italian Restaurants honor encompasses its pasta, entrées, service, atmosphere and overall hospitality. “Technique gets people talking about the food,” Recchia said. “Hospitality gives them a reason to come back.”
That distinction matters because the Best of Florida Awards are fueled by public support. Recchia has competed before professional judges at the World Pizza Championship in Parma, Italy, where every decision can be examined under a culinary microscope. Customers conduct a different kind of evaluation, one that unfolds across countless visits rather than a single competition entry.
“A competition judge evaluates something you make in that moment,” Recchia said. “Our customers evaluate us every day. They experience the restaurant when we’re busy, when there’s a wait, on a Friday night, on a Tuesday afternoon. They see the entire operation.”
As Recchia sees it, a competition trophy validates the craft, while customer recognition validates the business built around it. Bella Napoli’s continued appearance among Florida’s best suggests it is succeeding at both. “Consistency is actually harder than innovation,” he said. “Anyone can make something great once. The challenge is doing it hundreds and thousands of times while maintaining the same standard.”
Aguila’s reaction to Uncle Rico’s statewide recognition is more direct: “It means that with hard work and perseverance, anything can be achieved.”
That work has moved Uncle Rico’s from a small Fort Myers neighborhood shop to a pizzeria with statewide recognition in only a few years. Aguila credits social media and networking with helping the restaurant reach beyond its immediate market, but its reputation ultimately returns to what comes out of the oven. Despite his flair for creative pizzas and Peruvian-inspired flavors, he would introduce a first-time customer to Uncle Rico’s with the simplest pie on the menu.
“Just my basic cheese pie, so you can taste the sauce, the cheese and my artisanal Florida-style crust,” Aguila said.
The choice says plenty. Specialty toppings can capture attention, but a cheese pizza leaves the fundamentals standing in the open with nowhere to hide. Sauce, cheese, fermentation, bake and balance have to carry the entire performance.
Uncle Rico’s may bear Aguila’s nickname, but he refuses to treat its recognition as an individual accomplishment. His wife, Cira, their children and the restaurant’s employees transformed his idea into a thriving family business. “I think they deserve all of the recognition,” he said. “I had the idea, and they all make it happen every day.”
Aguila has experienced the adrenaline of winning professional pizza competitions, including his Pizza a Due victory with his son, Antonio, at the 2025 Galbani Professionale Pizza Cup. Public recognition delivers something different because it reflects the decisions of customers who continue choosing Uncle Rico’s throughout the year.
“Winning competitions, you get a rush of excitement for the prize,” Aguila said. “Whereas recognition from the community is truly humbling, knowing that hundreds of loyal customers choose us every day.”
Recchia and Aguila operate different restaurants and approach pizza from different backgrounds. Bella Napoli combines technical pizza making with a complete Italian dining experience, while Uncle Rico’s pairs New York influences with Aguila’s family story and emerging vision for an artisanal Florida-style crust. Their success demonstrates that a region does not need every pizzeria making the same style to develop a legitimate pizza identity.
Recchia sees strong local operators as collaborators in building that identity. Better pizzerias raise expectations, and higher expectations force everyone to improve. “I want Southwest Florida to become a place where someone can say, ‘You need to go there for pizza,’” he said. “Not because of one restaurant, but because there is an entire community of people taking the craft seriously.”
Aguila is even more direct about where that movement is headed. Southwest Florida’s pizza makers are developing their own styles, winning competitions and earning recognition from the people who eat their food every day.
“Florida pizza is now a force to be reckoned with,” Aguila said, “which can stand alongside New York, Connecticut, Chicago and the rest.”
The traditional pizza capitals are not surrendering their crowns anytime soon. But with Bella Napoli and Uncle Rico’s leading the charge from Southwest Florida, the peninsula is beginning to rule itself.
By Brain Hernanez, PMQ Assoc. Editor, U.S. Pizza Team Dir.
