Pizzaiolo from Caserta, Ciccio Vitiello leads the Cambia-Menti pizzeria (No. 24 in the World 50 Top Pizza 2024) and plans a self-sufficient Village Green. With multi-grain doughs and narrative provocations such as the “Negative Review” pizza, he has been winning Gambero Rosso's Tre Spicchi since 2019.
Born in Caserta in 1992, Vitiello began kneading as a boy and at age 20 opened the da-asporto Antica Napoli in Tuoro, at the foot of the Bourbon palace. A stint in Miami to launch a start-up taught him about logistics and marketing; back in Campania, he took over the family's 17th-century palazzo and transformed it into Casa Vitiello, pioneering the idea of offering up to seven different doughs (hemp, burnt wheat, cocoa) in the service of essential toppings. National critics report him among the up-and-coming, calling him a “scholar and entrepreneur of contemporary pizza.”
In 2022 he changed course again by founding Cambia-Menti in San Leucio: the name is a manifesto of continuous research. Here he presents seasonal cards in which dough dialogues with organic products from the Volturno region; his “Negative Review,” a pizza blackened by olive dust created to mock online criticism, becomes a media case and draws fans from all over Italy.
Vitiello's philosophy revolves around long maturation (over 48 hours) and pushed hydration, with attention to the sound of the alveolatura: “a pizza must sing before it is even tasted.” He is an advocate of short supply chains: he collaborates with artisanal mills to recover local wheat varieties and with biodynamic farmers for multicolored salads, while organizing master classes on spontaneous fermentations.
Recognitions fuel his reputation: Three Gambero Rosso Spicchi from 2019, entry in the Top 10 Italy 50 Top Pizza 2023 and 24th position in the 2024 World Ranking, as well as 29th placement in the Top 100 Best Pizza 2024. The press describes him as an “enfant prodige of doughs” capable of combining scientific study and pop imagery.
