But This Story Began Almost a Century Ago.
Some awards celebrate excellence. Others tell a story.
What the Municipality of Caiazzo chose to honor on Sunday night, with the Encomio Solenne conferred on Franco Pepe, is not only the story of one of the greatest pizzaioli of our time. It is the story of a family that for almost a century has chosen to put its work at the service of its community.
It begins in the 1930s.
When Franco Pepe’s grandfather opened the family bakery, it was never only a business. In an era when many households had neither a kitchen nor an oven of their own, that oven became a fixed point for the whole community. People brought their bread, their dishes, their ingredients to be baked, and found not just a service but a place of sharing, solidarity and closeness.
That same vision was handed down from one generation to the next — through his father, Stefano, to Franco, who turned the inheritance into a project that speaks to the world without ever losing hold of its roots.
With Pepe in Grani, Franco has shown that a pizzeria can be far more than a restaurant. It can become an instrument of economic, cultural and social regeneration — one that creates value for producers, farmers, artisans, young talent and an entire territory.
Around 12,000 people a month come to Caiazzo from every part of the world, according to Pepe in Grani. From Sydney to New York, from Tokyo to South Africa, thousands choose to make their way to this small Campanian town. That is close to 145,000 visitors a year — an extraordinary impact that has helped turn Caiazzo into one of the best-known gastronomic destinations in the world.
Which is why this recognition carries a meaning that goes beyond gastronomy.
The mayors of numerous towns across the area were present at the ceremony — an image that says more than any speech about what the moment was worth: it is not one town paying tribute to Franco Pepe, but an entire territory recognizing that his work helped build its identity, its reputation and its future.
Over his career Franco Pepe has received some of the most important international honors, among them the title of The Best Pizza Chef from The Best Chef Awards. But this commendation holds a different kind of value.
From the community that watched a family take shape — a family that for almost a hundred years has gone on proving that food can bring people together, create opportunity, and change the fate of a place.
Congratulations, Franco.
Your story reminds us that the strongest legacies are not measured only by awards, but by the communities they help shape.
— The Best Pizza Team
Franco Pepe represents the third generation of a family of bakers. His grandfather started the business in 1938, with an operating license granted by the Potestà. Since then, not even a wartime managed to interrupt the work. Pepe’s grandfather continued to bake, authorized to give the ration of 150 g of bread upon presentation of the card.
