Madison pizzeria, Valentina's, wins awards in International Pizza Challenge

Madison pizza connoisseurs, make sure to drop by Valentina’s Pizza & Wine Bar to grab an award-winning slice.

Joe Carlucci, Valentina’s owner, took home two major awards from the International Pizza Challenge in Las Vegas, NV: He was named the top pizza maker in the Traditional Division and won second place overall Top Pizza Maker. To celebrate, they’ll be serving the award-winning recipe as a special for the next several weeks.

Read on for more about the competition.

Pizza Expo

Pizzas were ranked based on the following categories:

Taste

Crust
Sauce
Cheese
Toppings
Overall taste

Visual Presentation/Appearance

Bake
Visual presentation

After winning the Traditional Division on Wednesday, March 23, Carlucci reached out via the Valentina’s Facebook page to thank his customers and staff for their support.

First I want to say nothing in my life would ever happen without God and I give all the glory to him. Second I want to thank my staff for everything from their hard work to challenging me to raise my own bar. I want to thank our amazing customers for the support the past two years. To my right hand man and the person that has leveled me off and kept me leveled, Kyle Muenstermann, your loyalty to Valentina’s and myself is more than I could have ever imagined. I could never have accomplished this without you. This was a team effort. We will have the pizza that won 1st place on special all month!
Joe Carlucci, Owner, Valentina’s Pizzeria & Wine Bar

The final competition took place Thursday, March 24.