Fortezza, a pizzeria based in Bogota, Colombia has become the first, and only, Colombian restaurant to crack The Best Pizza Awards 2025 list, placing 80th out of the world’s top 100 pizzerias. The announcement was made this week during a ceremony at East End Studios in Milan.
At the same event, Fortezza’s head chef, Italian architect‑turned‑pizzaiolo Carmine Tangredi, earned a spot among the Top 100 Pizza Chefs in the World, a distinction shared with icons such as Franco Pepe. The honors were conferred by an independent panel of 512 experts from 60 countries, who judged contenders on technique, authenticity, innovation and passion. There were no sponsors or commercial influences.
The award-winning Pizzeria began selling frozen pizzas in Colombia
“This achievement confirms that you can do extraordinary things in Colombia when you respect the ingredients, the technique and the craft,” Tangredi said after receiving his accolade.
Tangredi and his wife and business partner, Colombian architect Daniela Hoyos, began the venture by selling frozen pizzas. Today, Fortezza is one of Bogota’s most famous dining destinations and its creators are already planning for global expansion. The restaurant’s signature approach reinterprets rather than imitates Neapolitan tradition, featuring a long‑fermentation dough, high, pillowy crusts and top‑quality ingredients.
To celebrate the milestone, Fortezza will host a four‑handed dinner on June 28 with Daniele Gagliotta, world champion of Pizza DOC 2024. The event will be held at their flagship location on Carrera 12a #77‑37 in the Quinta Camacho neighborhood of Bogota.
The success of the Pizzeria allowed its creators to create a Pasta restaurant
The success of Fortezza has also allowed for the opening of Fortezza Pastificio, a sister restaurant focused on fresh pasta. “We want to show that pizza can be haute cuisine and that Colombia can be an international gastronomic epicenter,” Hoyos said. The couple plans further collaborations with international chefs and aims to cement Fortezza’s reputation as the leading contemporary pizzeria in Latin America.
For Tangredi, the awards mark not a finish line but a starting point. “We will keep evolving, hosting themed dinners, culinary gatherings and, above all, maintaining the standards that have brought us here,” he said. “This project is the result of so much passion, dedication and hard work.”