17th World Pizza Championship

On 21-23 April the town of Salsomaggiore Terme in Italy hosts the 2008 Campionato Mondiale della Pizza with contestants from more than 20 different countries

The World Pizza Championship (Campionato Mondiale della pizza) is a yearly event held in Salsomaggiore Terme, a Spa resort in the province of Parma in Northern Italy.

The 17th Championship runs on April 21 through 23, 2008 and awaits more than 450 entrants (mostly male and aged around 35) from over twenty different countries. Outside Italy, the contest is particularly popular with US American and Japanese pizza makers.

Prizes will be awarded in 10 different categories:

1. Classic Pizza Dough
2. Classic Pan Pizza
3. Presentation
4. Neapolitan Style Pizza S.T.G.
5. Gluten Free Pizza
6. Fastest Pizza Man
7. Largest Pizza
8. Free Style
9. Acrobatic Team
10. Special Award

At last year's Pizza Olympics, the best acrobatic team act came from the World Pizza Champions Team from the USA. The largest pizza obtained with 500 grams of dough was Salvatore Salviani's (111.25 cm across), while the fastest pizza maker (pizzaiolo in Italian) was Domenico Sposato who managed to spread five dough balls into as many 30 cm pizzas in as little as 00' 23" 82.