Chaotic, loud and dirty, yet with a raw beauty I haven't seen replicated anywhere else for a city its size. Naples is without a doubt one of my favourite cities that I have visited.

With a history stretching back almost three millennia, scenery that includes a volcano, a port and architecture rivalling Rome, and a culinary reputation surpassing most other cities, Naples should be near to the top of everyones must visit list.

In many ways the city is similar to the Barcelona of 15-20 years ago - that raw beauty and a local/traditional essence is still there and tourism is not yet the all encompassing feature that I am sure it will become. I visited Naples for four days, and below are my observations and reviews of a city that I think is comfortably in the top 5 of my favourite cities globally.

Ever since Gennaro Lombardi opened the first pizzeria in the United States in the Little Italy neighbourhood of New York City, the New York style of pizza has grown into a global phenomenon unique in its flavour, detached from its Neapolitan origins.   

From that first pizza place in 1905, the city now has close to 500 pizzeria's operating in the city. So what makes New York pizza so different? Firstly, there's a standardised size, 18 inches in diameter, secondly it uses a high gluten type of bread. I've tasted pizza in many parts of the world, but the New York style is definitely one of my favourites, in fact, I had a boss who would come from Washington DC, just for the pizza! So what else could make New York pizza so special? Some say its the evolution of the pizza through Gennaro Lombardi (many successful NYC pizzeria's can trace their origins directly to his pizza place), others say its the unique concentration of minerals in New York's famously high quality tap water.

Whatever the reason, you are never more than a couple of blocks from a good pizza place, and during my time in New York, I made it a mission to visit some of the best pizzeria's the city has to offer. After all of that, here are, in my opinion, the 5 best pizza places in New York City.