The pizza market - Italy

In Italy, pizza represents more than just a dish: it is a symbol of the country's culinary culture and tradition, an element of national pride that has spread throughout the world, adapting to different tastes and styles. However, despite its many international variations, Italy remains the cradle of authentic pizza, with unparalleled diversity and quality. The Italian pizza-making tradition is expressed through a rich variety of doughs, sizes, formats and baking techniques, each with its own specificities and roots in different regions of the country. The segment of frozen pizzas and ready-to-use doughs is booming. The producers of frozen pizzas have invested significantly in research and development to offer products that come as close as possible to the quality of a pizza made in a pizzeria. This includes using high-quality ingredients, adopting slow rising techniques for the dough, and using wood-fired or stone ovens for baking before freezing to maintain the authentic taste and desired texture. The global pizza market reached $148.6 billion in 2023, with projected growth to $219.9 billion by 2032 (CAGR 4.45%), while the frozen pizza segment will grow from $17.6 billion to $28 billion (CAGR 5.3%). In Italy, the market value is expected to increase from 728 million in 2023 to 935 million in 2028. Pizza is the most iconic dish for 89% of Italians and 65% consume it at least once a week. The consumption of frozen pizzas grew by 30% between 2021 and 2024, while the number of businesses active in the sector increased from 58,000 in 2020 to 88,793 in 2024. The frozen segment has 292 companies, with about 50 varieties of pizza offered, and accounts for 22.6 percent of the ready-to-eat meals sector. The main players include Italpizza (2023 turnover: €214.6M), Roncadin (€157.8M) and Margherita S.r.l. (€70.4M). Distribution is dominated by large-scale retail, with companies such as Conad, Coop, and Lidl; however, between 2021 and 2025, companies active in large-scale retail have decreased by 8.5 percent. Consumer prices are rising, with the index rising steadily from 104 in 2018 to 124.5 in 2024. In 2024, the average price of a meal in a pizzeria (pizza + drink) varies significantly: it ranges from €8.09 in Rovigo to €15.59 in Reggio Emilia, with cities such as Milan (€12.30), Rome (€10.15) and Naples (€8.99) representing different spending ranges. Finally, the report stresses the importance of ingredient quality (84 percent) and provenance (76 percent) as the main drivers of choice for Italian consumers.