How Big Is the Biggest Pizza Ever Made
The largest pizza ever made measured 13,570 square feet, created in Rome, Italy, in 2012 by a team led by Dovilio Nardi, Andrea Mannocchi, and others from the Pizza Week event organizers, with the final dimensions reaching 126 feet in length and 108 feet in width. The pizza, named "Ottavia" in honor of the first Roman emperor Octavian Augustus, broke the previous world record and was verified by Guinness World Records as the largest single pizza ever baked, with the team using a custom-built oven and a specially designed dough recipe to ensure even baking across the massive surface area.
The record-breaking pizza was made with a simple dough recipe consisting of flour, water, salt, and yeast, and the final product weighed approximately 51,257 pounds (23,250 kilograms) of dough, with the toppings including tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and basil, spread evenly across the enormous surface. The baking process took several hours, with a team of over 20 pizza makers working simultaneously to manage the dough and toppings, and the final pizza was sliced and distributed to the public and charity organizations, reinforcing the event's focus on community and food sharing rather than commercial profit.
Where and When Was the Largest Pizza Baked
Location and Event Details
The record was set in Rome, Italy, at the Fiera di Roma exhibition center, during a special event organized as part of Pizza Week, with the goal of showcasing Italian pizza-making traditions on a grand scale. The event attracted international media attention and was supported by local authorities and food industry partners, with the pizza baked on a custom-designed steel frame that covered over 13,500 square feet of surface area.
The team behind the record included experienced pizzaiolos and event organizers who coordinated logistics, ingredient supply, and baking equipment, with the project requiring extensive planning and safety measures to handle the large volume of dough and the industrial-scale oven used for baking. The event was documented with photographs and video footage, and the record has been cited in multiple food and record-keeping publications as a benchmark for large-scale pizza production.
How the Record Compares to Other Large Pizzas
Previous and Subsequent Attempts
Before the 2012 Roman pizza, the record was held by a 12,617-square-foot pizza made in 2010 in Verona, Italy, by a team led by chef Dino Fava, and since then, several teams have attempted to surpass the record with varying degrees of success, though none have officially exceeded the 13,570-square-foot mark set in Rome.
Other notable large pizza attempts include a 10,000-square-foot pizza made in the United States and a 9,000-square-foot pizza made in South Africa, but these were not verified by Guinness World Records as the largest, and the Rome record remains the most widely recognized benchmark for the biggest pizza ever made, with the organizers of the 2012 event continuing to be referenced in food industry reports and record-keeping databases.
For more details on the record and the event, you can visit the official Guinness World Records page on largest pizza and the Forbes article covering the event.