The story
La Bottega della Pizza sits on Avenue Ducpétiaux in Saint-Gilles, one of Brussels' most characterful inner-city communes. The address alone signals something deliberate: this is a neighbourhood spot that earned its reputation through the quality of what comes out of the kitchen, not through spectacle.
That reputation received formal recognition from Gambero Rosso, Italy's most authoritative food and wine guide, which awarded La Bottega della Pizza one of its coveted slices — a distinction that places it among a select group of pizzerias acknowledged for genuine Italian pizza-making standards outside of Italy.
The name says it plainly: bottega — a workshop, a craft space. Pizza here is treated as a discipline rather than a commodity. Beyond that, the source material is modest, and so the writing stays honest: what draws people back to a place on a quiet Brussels avenue and keeps it on the radar of a guide as rigorous as Gambero Rosso is consistency and care in the fundamentals — dough, ingredients, technique.
For anyone in Brussels with a serious interest in pizza, La Bottega della Pizza on Avenue Ducpétiaux is a straightforward recommendation.
Recognition
Details
History
Neapolitan chef Roberto Casula has been reigning over Brussels’ pizzasphere since 2010. Here inside this mini bottega with gingham tablecloths, happily provided with extra seating along the sidewalk when the weather warms up, everyone knows everyone else. The multi-award-winning dough is rested for three days, and comes out of the oven plump, nicely burnt around the edges and generously topped with seasonal ingredients (apart from the rather bland cherry tomatoes in February). The best options? Fundamentalists will stick to the perfect “classiche” pizzas (Margherita, Regina, Siciliana…), while the more adventurous among you (like us) with indulge in the Spicy & Love (San Marzano tomato sauce, fior di latte, scamorza, spianata piccante, friggitelli chilies, cream of pecorino, basil and toasted almonds), the Tonno & Cipolla white pizza (red onions, capers and tuna mousse) or the Salsiccia & Friarielli (cime di rapa, fennel sausage). There are no antipasti, but there are some really good Sicilian cannoli filled with ricotta cream and candied fruit! There’s also a second location in the Sablon neighborhood, at 31 Rue de Rollebeek. // Ringo de Balmalon
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