Who would not recognize among a thousand the fantastic scent of the pizza? Typical gastronomic product of the Neapolitan cuisine composed of a dough of flour, water and yeast, flattened and filled traditionally with tomato and mozzarella, but also with other ingredients.

Pizza is, along with pasta, the best-known Neapolitan food abroad--and certainly one of the most popular!

But where did pizza originate? We try to tell its story starting from its origins, in a journey steeped in history and legend.

The history of pizza

It seems that the origins of pizza date back as far as the Paleolithic period, when primitive humans made a kind of flatbread by crumbling roots and grains, then baking them on hot stone.

Later the Egyptians discovered the properties of yeast, which, when added to the dough, gave new texture to the flatbread.

Even among the Persians there was a precursor to the pizza: In fact, soldiers would refresh themselves after battles by baking flat loaves of bread stuffed with cheese and dates on their shields.

However, Italy is the official home of pizza: the Etruscans first imported it into their gastronomic culture, but it was the Greeks who started stuffing it before baking (their pizza was called "Planktunos").

In Roman times there was a dish called "Panis Focacius" (from Latin panis, "bread," baked at the focus, "hearth") consisting of a round-shaped dough seasoned with olive oil, spices and honey. This type of focaccia spread as the Roman Empire expanded and several types were born, from which were derived the regional variants of pizzas and focaccias still popular in Italy today.

In Naples, around the year 1000, the term "picea" denoted a disc of dough covered with a variety of ingredients and baked in the oven. The word was probably derived from the Neapolitan dialect with the original meaning of "shake," "push," referring to the movement made by the baker in the act of baking. However, the current word pizza could have Arab origins derived from Saracen domination in Campania ("pita" = bread, focaccia) or even Germanic origins due to Lombard domination ("bizzo" meaning "piece of bread").

The birth of modern pizza

It was not until the discovery of the tomato (imported from Peru after the colonization of America) that the pizza modern. First used only as an ornamental plant because it was considered poisonous, the tomato was later introduced into the kitchen in the form of a sauce cooked with salt and basil, and later it was combined with the pizza.

In the 16th century it was already an indispensable ingredient in the Neapolitan cuisine, and a couple of centuries later it spread to the kitchens of the rest of the world.

By the middle of the 18th century, pizza had already spread widely in Naples: this is testified to in a treatise by Vincenzo Corrado on the culinary habits of the Neapolitans. It was sold in the streets and alleys of the city, in small establishments with wood-burning ovens : the garzone, holding a stove balanced on his head, would bring pizzas to customers still hot and already packed, stuffed with various ingredients.

The habit of eating the following became widespread. pizza at the stores: equipped with a wood-fired Vesuvian stone oven and a marble counter for rolling out pizza and shelves with all the ingredients on display. There were also tables for customers to sit at, and an outdoor display of pizzas for sale to passersby. All these elements can still be found in the pizzerias de la Campanie today.

The birth of the Margherita pizza

In the summer of 1889, King Umberto I of Savoy and the Queen Margaret spent their vacations in Naples, in the Palace of Capodimonte, and the queen decided to taste pizza, the famous food of the people.

He was called to the palace the most renowned pizzaiolo of the time, Raffaele Esposito, who churned out several pizzas: the Mastunicola pizza, with suet (similar to lard), sheep's cheese, pepper and basil; the pizza marinara, with garlic, oil, and tomato; and a third, as yet unnamed pizza, with mozzarella, tomato, and basil (to reproduce the colors of the Italian flag), which so thrilled the queen that it was named pizza Margherita In his honor.

Pizza in the world

The first real pizzerias arose in Southern Italy in the early 20th century and in the North only at the end of World War II. With the industrial boom of the 1960s, pizza spread beyond the borders of southern Italy, particularly to Milan, a Turin and to Genoa, thanks to emigrants from the south who brought their customs and traditions, especially culinary ones.

Even abroad, emigrants spread the secret of pizza: especially to America, where, however, we had to adjust to the lack of mozzarella, replacing it with American cheese. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, pizza also spread to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Japan and China.

On February 5, 2010, it was officially recognized as a Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG) of the European Union, and in 2017 theArt of the Neapolitan Pizzaiuolo has been declared a UNESCO Cultural and Intangible Heritage Site.

The Pizza Village

Every year the city of Naples is home to the famous Pizza Village, turning into a huge outdoor pizzeria for a few days, with booths, entertainment and live music.

In 2016, the longest pizza in the world was prepared on the Caracciolo Promenade: a full 2 km long and 40 cm wide!

The art of pizza

The dough of the pizza is similar to that for bread (wheat flour type 00 and completely fat-free), soft and elastic, leavened for a long time, rolled out by hand in the shape of a disc without flattening the edges (which in baking will form the so-called "cornice" of 1 or 2 centimeters, while the central dough is only a few millimeters thick). Baking should take place in a wood-fired oven at about 485° for 60-90 seconds: pizza Must still be soft and moist, never overcooked!

The tools for making pizza

To pour the oil, pizza makers use the agliara, an internally tin-plated copper container with a long, narrow spout from which a thin, even trickle of oil flows out.

Two different long-handled shovels are used to bake and handle the pizza inside the oven: a larger, square one, on which the pizza is spread raw and baked with a quick jerk of the arm; the other smaller, round, iron one, which is used to rotate the pizza in the oven and have it bake evenly.

Pizza varieties

The Neapolitan cuisine traditional involves only two types of pizza: the Pizza Marinara, with tomato, garlic, oregano and oil, and the Pizza Margherita, with tomato, buffalo mozzarella from Campania, basil and oil.

San Marzano PDO tomato is recommended for these two variants.

In recent decades, however, other types of toppings have spread, and every pizzeria has its own menu with countless varieties. Among the most common in the Italian tradition we have the Pizza Capricciosa with tomato, mozzarella, mushrooms, artichokes, ham, olives, grated grana cheese, oil; theFour Seasons Pizza which usually contains the same ingredients as Capricciosa, each arranged in one of the four quadrants into which the pizza is divided.

Other very common pizzas are the Four Cheese Pizza, a white pizza (without tomato) with mozzarella, gorgonzola and other cheeses, and the ever-present basil; the Diavola, a variant of the Margherita Pizza, with added pepperoni.

Another typical variety is Baked Stuffing (also called Calzone) with tomato, provolone, ricotta, grated cheese and salami or cooked ham. The Ripieno can also be fried and the ingredients may vary.

In recent decades, white pizzas, such as the Pizza Mimosa (cream, mozzarella, ham and corn) and the Pizza Chef (cream, mozzarella, cooked ham and mushrooms).

Pizza by the slice

For this type of pizza (commonly called "pizzetta"), the risen dough is rolled out, topped, and baked in large metal pans and then displayed in the interior windows of delicatessens and bakeries to be sold by weight, in the form of rectangular slices. Stronger flours, regeneration processes or powdered soda are used, allowing a higher percentage of water (up to 90%) to be added to the dough, preventing the pizzas from drying out during display in the window.

"Wallet" pizza

Also called "pizza a libretto," it is a true Neapolitan street food: it is a "mignon" version of the pizza traditional, folded in four together with a sheet of food paper, and consumed on the street.

Where to eat the best pizza in Naples

The first pizzeria napoletana, the pizzeria Port'Alba, was founded in 1738 as a pizza "workshop" for street vendors and became a full-fledged pizzeria in 1830, still well known today, it is considered the oldest pizzeria in the world. It is located in the city's historic center at the beginning of the decumanus major. Since its founding, the baking ovens have been lined with lava stone from around Mount Vesuvius.

Among its specialties are the Pizza Mastunicola, already famous in the seventeenth century.

Also ancient is the Brandi Pizzeria, born in 1780, which owes its fame to the birth of the Pizza Margherita by owner Raffaele Esposito.

Another important pizzeria is Starita at Materdei, a family-run establishment established in 1901, among the best in Naples.

Impossible not to mention Gino and Toto Sorbillo, a two-level restaurant specializing in fried food and Neapolitan pizza, the Pizzeria Di Matteo, also a two-level establishment with five rooms, specializing in fried food and Neapolitan pizza, and last but not least theAntica Pizzeria Da Michele, a simple, informal venue with a lively interior, where only the Pizza Margherita and the Pizza Marinara.