Adrian Farrugia, the talented pizzaiolo behind the pizzeria Ta’ Dirjan in Siggiewi, has made his hometown proud by securing the 33rd place out of 150 participants in the prestigious Pizza Margherita DOC category of the Pizza World Championship in Italy. The competition was recently held in the city of Paestum in Salerno, Italy—a fitting stage for the world’s pizza makers to show their skills!

Adrian Farrugia was trained by the Luxury Taravella Academy, a startup dedicated to the training of Pizza Chefs in collaboration with the Accademia Nazionale Pizza DOC. The academy, also working in collaboration with local Italian food chain Vecchia Napoli, was the only team selected to represent Malta at the World Championship in Salerno. Several pizza chefs from the Luxury Taravella Academy participated in various categories, including classic (chef Adrian Farrugia, chef Christine Farrugia, chef Fabio Spina, Margherita (Chef Luigi Arnone), Contemporanea (Chef Marco Biondo), Gluten-free (Chef Francesco Cimino) and Brand (Vecchia Napoli).

The team at Ta’ Dirjan, located just off the main Siggiewi square, expressed their pride at their boss’s remarkable achievement, especially knowing how discerning Italians are when it comes to their pizza. 

Bravo, Adrian!