11th Edition of The World Pesto Championship
X Edition
The competition
Saturday, March 21st, 2026: 11th Edition of The World Pesto Championship
100 Contestants, 10 Finalists
In the Salone del Maggior Consiglio at Palazzo Ducale, a historical palace in Genoa and beating heart of today’s main cultural events and activities, 100 competitors from all over the world will challenge each other with pestle and mortar in the preparation of Genoese Pesto according to traditional methods and using authentic and genuine ingredients.
Each competitor is provided by the organisation with all the ingredients and tools to take part in the competition. A jury of food experts and tasters selects the 10 finalists among the 100 competitors who will challenge each other in the afternoon finals.
The Championship is open to amateur and professional cooks, provided they have reached the age of 18, from any country in the world. Participants, in order of entry, are all registered for the Championship, while the winners of the preliminary rounds held throughout the year all over the world are entitled to take part.
The current champion is Mattia Bassi, an engineer
The Final Ranking
Final ranking
The winner of the 11th edition of the World Pesto Championship is Carla Pensa, born in 1940, a retired greengrocer.
| Position | Name | Score |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Pensa Carla | 24083 |
| #2 | Baghino Giovanni | 23950 |
| #3 | Imparato Alberto | 23641 |
| #4 | Bizzarri Riccardo | 23039 |
| #5 | Gherardelli Nadia | 22761 |
| #6#6 | Ghezzi Alberto | 22689 |
| #7 | Mercati Roberto | 22248 |
| #8 | Baudino Alfio | 21079 |
| #9 | Grasso Francesca | 19755 |
| #10 | Merlo Renata | 19597 |
Group results: those of one group are not comparable with others, as the judges of each group differ and therefore the judging criteria differ.
Group 1
Position Name Score 1 Grasso Francesca 2527 2 Cresta Massimiliano 1998 3 Alitta Paolo 1996 4 Terzolo Claudia 1761 5 Amantini Gaia 1674 6 Chiavarino Giovanni 1290 7 Bosacka-Makulska Katarzyna 1209 8 Paterna Angela 1208 9 Vena Mael 1112 10 Seneca Lorenzo 846 Group 2
Position Name Score 1 Imparato Alberto 2448 2 Nozaki Haruhiro 2381 3 Capone Domenico 2310 4 Lau Jennifer 2294 5 Ardizzone Paola 2284 6 De Biasio Lia Antonella 2259 7 Giannetti Giulia 2243 8 Astengo Giacomo 2130 9 Destro Andrea 2121 10 Sandi Margherita 2111 Group 3
Position Name Score 1 Baudino Alfio 2362 2 Merlo Livia 2340 3 Lisci Fabio 1915 4 Serra Andrea 1799 5 Tosetti Massimo 1737 6 Donati Andrea 1544 7 Brean Paolo 1489 8 Cicero Carmelo 1470 9 Olsson Eric 1418 10 Lozi Shpetim 1371 Group 4
Position Name Score 1 Bizzarri Riccardo 1950 2 Cucciol Silvia 1863 3 Bernardini Ettore 1767 4 Vignolo Davide Mario 1742 5 Thuriaux Aleman Ben 1635 6 Falcone Giulio 1614 7 Burrell Jacob 1589 8 Donati Cinzia 1577 9 Mazzilli Mario 1470 10 Delevoye Lusteau Barbara 1369 Group 5
Position Name Score 1 Merlo Renata 2380 2 Bondioli Angelo 2186 3 Fontana Claudio 1994 4 La Rosa Giuseppe 1963 5 Modica Agnello Enrico 1871 6 Nanni Lorenzo 1797 7 Drammeh Amadou 1696 8 Paterna Angela 1609 9 Bun Anne-Aimée 1482 10 Kasai Miyu 1188 Group 6
Position Name Score 1 Baghino Giovanni 2614 2 Brazzi Romina Serena 2585 3 Santin Marta 2439 4 Lecci Igor 2389 5 Ghiglieri Ginevra 2348 6 Petta Matteo 2314 7 Mazzoni Laura 2302 8 Nasso Armando 2286 9 Elsi Mauro Elio 2174 10 Demaret James 1601 Group 7
Position Name Score 1 Mercati Roberto 2097 2 Moselli Barbara 1644 3 Pavletic Luca 1630 4 Vassallo Daniela 1630 5 Kecskes Kevin 1625 6 Brovia Paolo 1479 7 Devallier Stefano 1352 8 Loewinsohn Alan 1150 9 Ferreri Ivana 923 10 Drago Edoardo 910 Group 8
Position Name Score 1 Ghezzi Alberto 2363 2 Cossu Aurelio 2361 3 Gattorna Riccardo 2191 4 Bonzi Federico 1813 5 Camogliano Giovanni 1600 6 Zygarski Piotr 1452 7 Ferigo Diego 1445 8 Buffatto Maria Luisa 1407 9 Minnaar Christelle 1284 10 Ota Ryusuke 1093 Group 9
Position Name Score 1 Pensa Carla 2746 2 Pinzone Alessio 2451 3 Ruggiero Lorenzo 2233 4 Stanley Wales Craig 2149 5 Taddei Stefano 2149 6 Cimino Pietro 1934 7 Carbone Maria 1930 8 Stanchi Francesca 1799 9 Pastorino Emanuela 1736 10 Rossi Cesare 1478 Group 10
Position Name Score 1 Gherardelli Nadia 2489 2 Girgenti Carlo 2357 3 Chiesa Marco 2291 4 Tacchino Stefano 2262 5 Torre Eugenio 2254 6 Marek Sophie 2251 7 Vaccari Tommaso 2142 8 Rizzitano Matteo 2105 9 Furia Fabrizio 2027 10 Botti Lorenzo 1818
