(Above: Pizza Bianca at Bacaro in Providence, RI.)

This great little city of ours got the Number 2 spot in Travel + Leisure’s “America’s Best Cities for Pizza”, outranking New York City at third place, and Philadelphia at fourth place.

Long gone are the days of thinly sliced cheese pizzas. Instead America’s new passion is the Neapolitan-style pizza.

The challenge? Well, it’s finding top cities with amazing **not just decent** pizza where you can only find it in a particular city. Top ranking cities hold an authentic brand and also reflects the city’s own unique flair.

“These days, you can find decent, or even excellent, New York–style pizza in almost any medium-sized to large city in America,” says Brooklyn-based writer Jeff Turrentine. “But finding even passable Chicago-style pizza outside of Chicago—that still poses a challenge.”

Following Chicago’s top ranking, Providence received a high placement (the silver medal) for the second time in a row, probably because it also offers an “only-in” Providence pie which is a grilled pizza, “where the dough is cooked on one side, then flipped before the toppings are added”.

If you suddenly got a hankering for pizza, then visit one or both of the featured restaurants; Downtown Bacaro Restaurant on 262 South Water Street as well as LaSalle Bakery on 993 Smith Street and 685 Admiral Street.