At I Tigli, innovative “pizza gourmet” pies are topped with "perfumes of the sea” (such as “swordfish tataki with black sesame and artichokes with orange") and gioco di mano, a type of stuffed pizza meant to be eaten with one's hands. Try Padoan's nostrano, an Italian pizza-inspired spin on the cheeseburger.

The omakase menu at Monk starts and stops with pizza. Each morning, Imai sources ingredients like chrysanthemum, wild venison and a mountain vegetable called koshiabura from Kyoto's markets and "farms tucked in the mountains of Ohara."

As the name suggests, 180g Pizzeria Romana uses 180g of long-fermented dough for each Roman-style pie, which is stretched by hand and garnished with creative toppings. Chef Jacopo Mercuro makes crusts so thin and delicate that he has earned a “Tre Spicchi” award from Gambero Rosso, the prestigious Italian wine and restaurant reviewer. Stick to the pizza con la mortazza or pizza con salame, a plain slice with bologna or cured meats. For dessert, try Mercuro's "cocoa pan pizza."

Pizzeria Sei a buzzy must-visit dining spot in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles. "Sei" comes from the number six in Italian (the number of slices in each of their pizzas). Chef Sang Woo Joo, who also goes by William, is the reigning prince of the L.A.'s pizza party. His slice is a spin on Tokyo neo-Neapolitan, using Japanese flour, light saucing, and salt thrown deep into the wood-burning oven.

Chef Sarah Minnick is routinely voted America's "best" pizza chef for her earthy, makes inspired pies that are as fashionable as they are flavorful. Her “ultra-seasonal, ultra-local” pizzas incorporating nectarines, melted leeks, pancetta, Nocciolo cheese, and edible flower petals.

Pepe In Grani is a “slow-food pizza” institution in Caserta, a city in the Campania region of southern Italy. This is “pizza enhanced by the culinary arts”: think margherita Sbagliata ("'incorrect' margherita") or sensazioni della costiera ("sensation of the coast"), a deep-fried pizza made from cured anchovy, a tomato slice, citrus zest, and peperoncino.

This family-run pizza parlor in the southern suburbs of Buenos Aires serves Neapolitan pies with an Argentine twist. Chef Carola Santoro often shapes her pies, which are loaded with pistachios and onions, into hearts. Expect pizza with mascarpone, provolone, blue cheese, and mozzarella laced with honey, and slices of fugazza (Argentina's answer to focaccia) exploding with ham and dripping with cheese.

Vitantonio Lombardo Ristorante is a restaurant occupying a thousand-year-old cave in the heart of Matera's sassi district in the Basilicata region of southern Italy. "Pizza in Black" is the signature dish here— a Matthew Barney-esque surreal pie made from caviar, truffle juice, and ricotta atop an activated-charcoal crust. While there's no arguing pizza-making is an art, Chef Vitantonio Lombardo takes his to a whole new conceptual level, elevating the doughs into Dadaist creations.