Fermenta

The people behind it

Fermenta grew out of an idea shared by two people: Luca Cornacchia, a pizza maker, and Giorgia Santuccione, an expert in wine and service. The 50 Top Pizza guide describes it as Luca and Giorgia's dream come true, and Reporter Gourmet, in an October 2025 article, tells the couple's story in detail.

Luca Cornacchia, born in 1986, was a professional five-a-side football player and an Italian national team member before turning to pizza; Giorgia Santuccione, born in 1989, trained in law and comes from a family tradition in hospitality. The article sets out the division of roles clearly: he runs dough production, she leads the dining room experience, the wine list and the beer list. According to the same article the pizzeria opened in 2018 to give Chieti a pizza with a raised crust, the result of research and study on the dough.

Sources: Reporter Gourmet — Fermenta, the couple that is winning awards with contemporary pizza in Abruzzo (16 ottobre 2025) · 50 Top Pizza — scheda Fermenta · Fermenta Pizzeria — sito ufficiale

What they make

The 50 Top Pizza guide entry describes three kinds of pizza in two textures: the padellino pan pizza and the contemporary pizza with a raised crust; the pizzeria's own website lists padellino, two-texture, contemporary and crispy lines, alongside rectangular pan pizzas. Reporter Gourmet reports long-fermented doughs, up to 48 hours, at high hydration, with multigrain or chia-seed variants.

The pizza menu leans heavily on Abruzzo products: there is the Diavola di altreMENTI, with a crust filled with ventricina cream, pomodoro antico Napoli, Abruzzo sheep's-milk fiordilatte and knife-cut Vastese ventricina; there is the Piana del Fucino pan pizza, with Fucino IGP potato; there is the Porchetta e patata in crosta, with Abruzzo porchetta and Avezzano potato. Among the starters are arancini with smoked provola and Vastese ventricina, and a selection of cured meats and cheeses from Nunzio Marcelli's Abruzzo shepherding.

Sources: 50 Top Pizza — scheda Fermenta · Fermenta Pizzeria — sito ufficiale · Reporter Gourmet — Fermenta, the couple that is winning awards with contemporary pizza in Abruzzo (16 ottobre 2025) · Fermenta Pizzeria — menu delle pizze

Ingredients and territory

Ventricina is the ingredient that most ties Fermenta to its land: in the Diavola di altreMENTI it appears twice, as a cream inside the crust and as knife-cut Vastese ventricina on top of the pizza, and it returns in the arancini with smoked Agerola provola. The other Abruzzo raw material named explicitly is the Fucino IGP potato, the base of the Piana del Fucino pan pizza together with pancetta, a fondue of Abruzzo cheeses, lard and rosemary.

Reporter Gourmet underlines the same choice: the Pera d'Abruzzo tomato instead of San Marzano and sheep's-milk dairy instead of Campania buffalo. The menu also features pecorino di Farindola and the Abruzzo extra virgin olive oils of Tommaso Masciantonio and Marina Palusci, named next to individual pizzas.

Sources: Fermenta Pizzeria — menu delle pizze · Reporter Gourmet — Fermenta, the couple that is winning awards with contemporary pizza in Abruzzo (16 ottobre 2025) · Fermenta Pizzeria — sito ufficiale

Recognition

In Gambero Rosso's Pizzerie d'Italia 2026 guide Fermenta earns Three Slices with 90 points and is among the new entries in the top category, according to the report published by Scatti di Gusto on 22 September 2025; Reporter Gourmet confirms the step up from Two to Three Slices and recalls Gambero Rosso's special award for the drinks list in 2024. The Gambero Rosso guide pages could not be consulted directly, so the source for this award is the press.

The 50 Top Pizza guide, in its 50 Top Pizza Italia ranking, places Fermenta at number 71 in the 2025 edition and at number 65 in the 2026 edition; Reporter Gourmet also recalls its number 79 in 2024 and the One to Watch mention. Among the hundred places of the 2026 ranking it is the only pizzeria from Abruzzo.

Sources: Scatti di Gusto — 3 Spicchi Gambero Rosso 2026, le migliori pizzerie (22 settembre 2025) · Reporter Gourmet — Fermenta, the couple that is winning awards with contemporary pizza in Abruzzo (16 ottobre 2025) · 50 Top Pizza — 50 Top Pizza Italia 2025, classifica · 50 Top Pizza — 50 Top Pizza Italia 2026, classifica

Going there

Fermenta is at Viale dell'Unità d'Italia 3, in Chieti Scalo, in the province of Chieti. According to the 50 Top Pizza guide entry the pizzeria opens for dinner only and closes on Tuesdays; the website gives a phone number and an email address for bookings.

The website describes an elegant, welcoming room with touches of creative vintage. The dining room is also designed for those who come for the drinks: the 50 Top Pizza guide rates the beer selection as excellent, and Giorgia Santuccione looks after a list of Abruzzo wines and craft beers. Anyone wanting to taste ventricina and Fucino potato on the same evening will find on the menu both the arancini and the two pizzas that use them. It is best to check opening days and hours before setting off.

Sources: Fermenta Pizzeria — sito ufficiale · 50 Top Pizza — scheda Fermenta · Fermenta Pizzeria — menu delle pizze

Products and flavours

The region

Abruzzo