Pizza & Co.

££££ │ Pizza by the slice, Beers & Soft Drinks

Lunch & Dinner │ Directions & Opening Times on Google

NY slices right? First thing I thought when I had a slice from here, this takes me back to Brooklyn! Super delicious with creamy mozzarella and excellent tomato, and that signature very firm base so the slice holds up. For me they’re exactly like the slices you get in the great NYC pizzerias (not the cheap greasy cop pizza vibe).

However, I think I’m an outlier on this as most people online seem to hold Pizza & Co. up as a kind of beacon of Italianess, although I would perhaps posit that most people online, ahem ahem, don’t know wtf they’re talking about (the pizza is not cooked on stone here so it doesn’t have that spring you get in a traditional Italian focaccia style base, at Pizza & Co. the pies pass through a heat chamber that cooks it very evenly and gives it that signature firm slice).

I also want to assert that this is a fantastic pizzeria, that I visit often and I am not slagging it off at all. Other than my semantics about dough (which I realise for many are boring and tiresome) they are obviously as Italian as it gets. The ingredients are excellent and are always fresh (the pizzeria is always busy and they never make pizzas too far in advance). In fact I’m not sure you’ll find a fresher cooked slice anywhere else in Lecce. I’ve often dropped in for a ‘quick’ slice and then walked off, slice in hand, only to find myself turning back around to go and get another one. And then another one. In fact a good tip (especially if all the tables are full) is to eat on the steps of the church next door. My advice: get a slice and a beer and settle in, bum-on-steps, for a couple of rounds of pizza… until you’re definitely full. I can tell you from experience that this is much more relaxing and efficient than constantly walking up and down Via Giuseppe Libertini, as lovely as it is, telling yourself you’re not going to eat anymore pizza, when clearly - you are.

You can also order a whole pizza which they’ll cook for you to order (which is massive and requires about 4 people to get through).

Pizza & Co. is already a well known pizzeria in Lecce especially amongst the tourist community, and with good reason. They know their way around flavour extremely well and deliver slice after slice after slice.