South Philadelphia is where the story begins. The Italian Market on 9th Street, the rowhouses of Passyunk, the old-school bakeries that have been feeding the neighborhood for a hundred years — this is the root system of Philadelphia's pizza culture. You can't understand Philly pizza without spending a day in South Philly.
The Neighborhood
South Philadelphia sits below South Street, stretching down to the sports complex near the stadiums. For our purposes — pizza purposes — the relevant area is bounded roughly by Broad Street to the west, Washington Avenue to the north, and the Delaware River to the east. Within that area, two corridors matter most: 9th Street (the Italian Market) and East Passyunk Avenue.
These two streets are about six blocks apart and connected by a grid of narrow rowhouse streets. You can walk from one to the other in fifteen minutes, though on a good pizza day you might want to take twice that long. Wear comfortable shoes.
The Italian Market
Start at the Italian Market. The market stretches from Wharton Street to Christian Street on 9th Street and has been a hub of immigrant food commerce since the 1880s. Today it's a mix of authentic old-school shops and newer food businesses, but the core of it remains genuinely old.
For pizza specifically, the market is where you look for tomato pie — the room-temperature, thick-crust, sauce-on-top Philadelphia pizza tradition. Several bakeries in and around the market still sell it, and eating tomato pie from a paper wrapper while walking the market is one of the more Philadelphian things you can do.
What to get: A square of tomato pie (plain, no cheese, or with some shredded mozzarella on top). Eat it at room temperature. Don't ask for it to be heated up. That's not how it works.
East Passyunk Avenue
From the market, walk west and south toward East Passyunk Avenue — the diagonal street that cuts through the neighborhood at an angle and has become one of the most celebrated restaurant strips in the city over the past fifteen years.
Passyunk has everything: BYOB Italian spots, James Beard-nominated chefs in tiny dining rooms, bakeries, coffee shops, and yes, excellent pizza. The concentration of quality within a walkable stretch is impressive by any city's standards.
What to look for: Passyunk's pizza spots lean toward Neapolitan and contemporary Italian. Look for wood-fired ovens, interesting ingredient sourcing, and menus that rotate seasonally.
Planning Your Day
The ideal South Philly pizza tour moves from light to heavy and from historical to contemporary. Start with tomato pie at the market — a slice or two, just to calibrate your appetite and connect with the tradition. Then walk to Passyunk for a proper sit-down Neapolitan lunch. In the late afternoon, if you still have room (and you should), look for a by-the-slice spot for a late-afternoon snack.
Practical notes: Many of the best spots in this neighborhood are BYOB. Stop at one of the wine shops near the market (there are several) and pick up a bottle before you sit down for lunch. Corkage is typically free or a few dollars. It dramatically improves the value proposition of the meal.
Deeper Cuts
Beyond the obvious landmarks, South Philly rewards exploration. The side streets between 9th and Passyunk have old-school pizza by the slice, family-run Italian bakeries with pizza fritta (fried pizza dough, a Neapolitan street food that deserves far more attention in America), and the occasional hidden gem that doesn't show up on any list.
The best way to find these spots is to walk and look for lines. In South Philly, a line outside a small storefront at lunch is almost always a good sign. Trust the locals.
Where to Go Next
After South Philly, the next natural stop on a Philadelphia pizza tour is the Northern Liberties/Fishtown corridor, where a newer wave of pizza spots has opened over the past decade. The aesthetic is different — more industrial-chic than rowhouse Italian-American — but the quality can be just as high. And the neighborhood is worth visiting for its own sake.
We'll be covering Fishtown in detail in an upcoming neighborhood guide. Subscribe to our newsletter and we'll let you know when it's live.