Stefano Spataro: Queensland’s Pizza Star on the World Stage

Spataro described this as his first competition judging experience. He understood the preparation behind an entry and the nights a competitor could spend thinking about what they were going to make.

A pizza reaches the judging table as a finished creation. Its maker arrives with everything that happened before it.

Asked how he prepared to judge, Spataro returned to his own experience competing. He remembered what he had wanted from a judge and said that helped inform the standards he would apply to others.

The hardest part, he explained, was translating an assessment into a number. His ten-point example was straightforward: a performance halfway to the expected standard would receive five.

Recognition had brought him to the judging table. Remembering the pressure of competing shaped how he approached it.

Asked what pizza makers get wrong, particularly in competitions, Spataro pointed to ego and the assumption that they already know everything.

His answer was to keep learning.

Coming from someone with a Queensland win and a world championship podium, that carries weight. In his account, achievement is not a reason to stop listening to other makers or examining your own work.

He also distinguished between respecting an established pizza style and creating something new. Using Neapolitan pizza as his example, he argued for preserving what defines it while allowing original creations their own space.

His winning pizza at the 2025 State of Origin Pizza Awards shows the creative side of that thinking. According to the organiser’s results report, La Campagnola combined mozzarella, Jersey Brie, olive jam, rocket with balsamic and culatello di Zibello prosciutto.

Respect for a classic and a distinctive competition creation can belong to the same maker.

When asked what Queensland’s pizza community was getting right, Spataro spoke about makers meeting, talking and organising dinners.

He saw the exchange of information as a way to grow.

It is a worthwhile detail behind the awards. Competitions distinguish individual performances, but the community he described also develops through people spending time together and sharing what they know.

His own results bring international recognition to Brisbane’s pizza talent. His interview offers a practical picture of how that talent keeps developing: experience, curiosity and contact with other people doing the work.

For diners, Spataro’s advice was refreshingly accessible.

At an unfamiliar pizzeria, he would order a margherita first. In his view, getting that simple pizza right gives a customer a reason to explore the rest of the menu.

He did not nominate one favourite Brisbane pizzeria. Instead, he described choosing according to the style he felt like eating, recognising that different places have different things to offer.

It is a generous perspective from a competition winner. Spataro has earned attention for his own pizza, but he still leaves readers with a reason to discover somebody else’s.

The podium establishes what he has achieved. That continuing curiosity makes him worth following.