Enzo Coccia

The Climb

Pizza is the center of Enzo Coccia’s work: owned, made, and repeated as daily practice in Naples, where La Notizia 53 is both workplace and proof of method. His own line — “I am not an artist. I am an artisan. A pizzaiolo with an identity, a brain, and a soul.” — sets the terms clearly. It places the craft ahead of performance and asks for judgment, discipline, and consistency rather than display. Across Pizzaria La Notizia (since 1994), La Notizia 94 (since 2010), and La Notizia 53, the through-line is not expansion for its own sake but a sustained commitment to the same trade. Enzo Coccia’s name stays attached to each address as the person carrying the work forward. In that sense, the years mark a practice that has held its ground in place and time, while remaining rooted in the handwork of pizza. In Naples, the value of repetition is understood without explanation: the craft is measured by how well it is done, and by how long it is kept in shape. Coccia’s career reflects that standard. Founder, chef, pizzaiolo — the roles are distinct, but in his case they converge around one discipline, with each title pointing back to the same act of making.

Today

At La Notizia 53, Enzo Coccia works in the overlapping roles of chef and pizzaiolo. The result is a restaurant identity built from direct handling of the craft, where the person and the product remain closely linked.

Signature

Mpustarella is one of Enzo Coccia’s signature dishes. Named plainly, it functions as part of the working language of the kitchen rather than as a showpiece. In the context of his career, it reads as a direct expression of pizza treated with the seriousness of a trade: specific, practiced, and grounded in technique.

In Their Words “I am not an artist. I am an artisan. A pizzaiolo with an identity, a brain, and a soul.”

Recognition

Enzo Coccia received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.