All over the world it is celebrated on 17 January on World Pizza Day, the world day dedicated to this iconic dish, which originated in Italy but has now become global. In Italy, however, the ritual of pizza is celebrated every day. High or low, round or by the slice, white or red, soft or crispy, there are 2.2 million pizzas served daily in out-of-home channels (Circana Crest data) for aper capita annual consumption of 7.8 kg, estimates the Centre for Training and Research on Consumption (Crc). The passion for margherita and capricciose fuels a circuit of 50 thousand pizzerias with 300 thousand employees and 15 billion euro turnover, declares Fipe-Confcommercio.
15 billion in pizzeria
Pizza is an industry that is holding its own even in the face of recent household spending cuts. Households have decreased outgoings and reduced their receipts, but pizza has not been given up. “Pizza has held up better than other out-of-home sectors,” says Luciano Sbraga, deputy general manager of Fipe-Confcommercio. Confirmation comes from Circana Crest data.
“In the year that ended last September,volumes remained substantially stable and so pizza remains one of the most consumed products in the out-of-home segment, being present in 12.7% of the occasions when people frequent public places,” comments Matteo Figura, executive director foodservice Italy at Circana.
Frozen or home-made
In addition to those ordered in pizzerias, take-away and delivery, there are the 71 thousand tonnes of frozen pizzas bought in one year in the large-scale retail trade, of which Italians have increased their purchases even in 2025, say Iias data, touching 488 million euro of expenditure (almost 5% more in volume in the first part of the year).
And then there is that 40% of families that, according to a Coldiretti/ Ixè survey, make their own pizza at home, buying individual ingredients. Starting with ready mixes and bases, which represent 7% of the expenditure destined in 2024 for the purchase of cereal derivatives in large-scale distribution (source: Ismea/Niq). To give an idea of the market, this is twice as much as is set aside for the purchase of rice (3%). It is not surprising, therefore, that the big names in frozen pizza have their eyes on this lively segment, as has Italpizza (430 million euro revenue 2025) which has just launched its fresh bases in large-scale distribution.
Dining and Cooking