When is National Pizza Day?
National Pizza Day 2027 is on Tuesday
Tuesday, February 9, 2027
February 9 every year. That's in 128 days.
until National Pizza Day begins, in your time zone
National Pizza Day is an informal US food holiday celebrating pizza, the Neapolitan street food that Italian immigrants carried to American cities and that became one of the country's most common meals. No founder for the day is documented.
About National Pizza Day
National Pizza Day is a mid-winter excuse to eat, bake or share pizza in any of its regional forms, from thin New York slices and New Haven-style pies to deep-dish Chicago pizza and Detroit's square pans.
Nobody knows who started the day. No founding organization, sponsor or official resolution is documented, and it has no government status. It shows up in US news coverage as an established date by the late 2010s; ABC television stations, for example, marked it on February 9 in both 2019 and 2020.
The food itself has a much better-documented past. Modern pizza took shape in Naples, in Italy's Campania region, as cheap, quick food for working people. A popular story links pizza Margherita, topped with tomato, mozzarella and basil, to Queen Margherita's 1889 visit to the city, though the tale is told as legend more than proven fact. In 2017 UNESCO added the art of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo, the craft of preparing the dough and baking it in a wood-fired oven, to its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Immigrants from Naples brought pizza to American cities such as New York, New Haven, Boston, Chicago and Trenton in the late 1800s and early 1900s. G. Lombardi's in Manhattan, licensed in 1905, is often cited as one of the earliest documented US pizzerias. Pizza stayed largely a neighborhood specialty until after World War II, when it spread to the suburbs and the rest of the country.
Sources: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage: Art of Neapolitan 'Pizzaiuolo' (2017), HISTORY: A Slice of History, Pizza Through the Ages, ABC7 Los Angeles: Saturday is National Pizza Day (February 9, 2019). How we check dates.
How to mark National Pizza Day
- Make dough from scratch the day before and let it rise slowly in the fridge for better flavor and texture.
- Order from an independent neighborhood pizzeria rather than a national chain.
- Hold a regional pizza night: compare a thin, foldable slice with a deep-dish or square pan pie.
- Let kids build their own small pizzas with toppings set out in bowls.
- Learn about the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo tradition that UNESCO recognized in 2017.
National Pizza Day dates
| Year | Date |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Sunday, February 9, 2025 |
| 2026 | Monday, February 9, 2026 |
| 2027 | Tuesday, February 9, 2027 |
| 2028 | Wednesday, February 9, 2028 |
| 2029 | Friday, February 9, 2029 |
| 2030 | Saturday, February 9, 2030 |
| 2031 | Sunday, February 9, 2031 |
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Frequently asked questions
When is National Pizza Day 2027?
National Pizza Day 2027 is on Tuesday, February 9, 2027. It falls on February 9 every year. In 2028, it is on Wednesday, February 9, 2028.
Who started National Pizza Day?
No founder or founding organization is documented. It is an informal observance with no official status that became widely recognized through news and social media coverage.
Where was pizza invented?
Modern pizza developed in Naples, Italy, as inexpensive street food. Neapolitan immigrants then brought it to US cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Is National Pizza Day a public holiday?
No. National Pizza Day is an observance, not a public holiday, so schools, banks, government offices and most businesses keep their normal hours.