17th January: World Pizza Day

Today it’s World Pizza Day, one of the most loved food in the world.

Comfort food par excellence, nightmare of all diets, Pizza is a UNESCO heritage jewel, since 2017. Anyway, not all pizzas are intangible heritage of humanity, but only the Neapolitan one. The reason lies in the skill, wisdom and tradition of the Neapolitan leavening and realization techniques that have no rivals in the world.

Whether it’s high,  Neapolitan style, or low and crunchy like the Roman one, tall as the Chicago one, pizza can be tasted everywhere. But it is undeniable that it represents, for everyone, Italy in the world. Although pizza boasts ancient births, the actual international success started 100 years ago.

Who invented pizza.

Once again we turn our thoughts to those peoples who were the first to start the first baking techniques. Because pizza is born, essentially, as a cooked dough of water and flour. It is therefore necessary to go back to the ancient Mesopotamian ovens and wheat crops of the ancient Egyptians. As well as the Greek pitas (from whose name perhaps derives the term pizza). Ultimately, once again, to the gastronomic culture of the Mediterranean.

Ancient Rome.

The large population of Rome, as known, nourished, especially in a first long phase of the empire, mainly of vegetables and fish. Accompanied by a focaccia made from a mix of cereals, then cooked under the ashes. A kind of bread-focaccia for the poor, then. Bread was produced, in fact, in large quantities and with different qualities destined, as it was also for wine, to different social classes. The famous Roman pinsa, rediscovered in recent decades and beloved, can therefore be considered an ancestor of pizza. Clearly, it was made with a mix of poor cereals, typical of the time, such as spelled and millet. And, of course, it wasn’t red.

The Neapolitan pizza.

The Neapolitan pizza, as we know it today, spread in 1800. It appears for the first time in the recipe book of the great Bartolomeo Scappi, author of one of the most important Italian food and wine treatises. Although the ingredients indicated talks more about a sweet than a savory recipe. So, the rounded shape of the food is the only connection with the modern image of pizza.
Beyond the recipe books, meanwhile, pizza invades the streets of Naples. It is the street food par excellence, which is sold in the street and cooked in two ways: baked or fried.
Basically pizza is a kind of bread dough, which sometimes contains lard. Sometimes lard or oil, which is baked and seasoned in different ways.

Welcomming tomatoes: pizza meets the perfect companion.

Clearly, tomato is an exotic product from the Americas. This unknown fruit comes, indeed, from overseas. Tomatoes slowly enter the poor kitchens, passing through the back door, and when the golden vegetable meets pizza, it is real love. For a long time the tomato will be snubbed by aristocratic kitchens, but its fate will be quite different.

Pizza: popular or universal dish?

Yes, pizza is a food for poor people. Even if not entirely disdained by the rich. For instance, different qualities of pizzas were served at the sumptuous wedding banquet of Sigismund I. The King of Poland married the granddaughter of Alfonso II of Aragon since the ‘500 and pizza delighted the guests . The diatribe ceased in the mid-nineteenth century, when pizza made its triumphant entry on the royal tables of the Bourbons. The history of pizza is therefore colored by legends related to the aristocracy.
The pizza maker Domenico Testa is called to the Napolitan Royal palace to prepare pizza for the queen. A pizza party in the royal gardens sign an absolute success, Domenico Testa earning the title of Monzù (derived from the French Monsieur) that is to say excellent person.

La Margherita, a pizza for Kings, indeed, for Queens.

Half a century later, in that same royal oven, another queen is waiting to taste her pizza: Queen Margaret, known for her lack of enthusiasm for food. This time the pizza maker was the famous Raffaele Esposito. It was he who prepared the famous pizza with tomato sauce, enriching it with mozzarella presenting it to the queen as Pizza Margherita.

Fried pizza: the street food of Naples.

Without a doubt it is one of the most delicious pizza styles. The queen of street food specialties. First of all, it is divided into two categories, stuffed fried pizza (pizza fritta ripiena) and fried pizza named montanara. The first one looks like a great fried calzone, stuffed with cheese, vegetables and other specialties. The montanara is fried pizza dough then seasoned on top.
Pizza fritta is a symbol of Naples after World War II. During the hard times of the Post-war reconstruction, in fact, it was cooked by napolitan women. Then sold directly from the front door to passers-by. We can enjoy an example of this practice from the film L’Oro di Napoli in which, Sophia Loren sells fried pizza oggi a otto. That means with an eight-day credit, you eat today and pay later. An interest-free consumer credit formula, but of great interest.

Pizza in Rome, the street food par excellence.

In Rome, if you ask a passer-by to recommend you a good pizzeria, you hear another question back. You need, in other words, to specify first, if you are looking for a pizza by the slice or for a “seated”pizza. Pizza by the slice is, in fact, a must in Rome. This is the official street food of the capital. Thousands of small shops baking pizza all the time are all over the city. Here you can stop for a snack, a quick lunch or delivery. Different kind of pizzas are displayed on the counter. You just need enter the shop, choosing the type of pizza you want to taste. When ready you ask for the size of the slice you want (or sometimes declare the budget available) and pay according to weight.

There are two types of pizza most famous in Rome: white pizza and red pizza.

The white pizza, hot and crispy, is usually divided in half and filled with thin slices of fragrant mortadella. The white pizza with mortadella (or “mortazza” for the Romans) is nothing short of a must. As is its twin sister, seasonal, white pizza with ham and figs, available only when the fig is in season. But the choice is huge.
If you want to walk while eating, just ask to close the pizza in your wallet, and here is that street food is enjoyed in its natural environment: in the street. Red pizza is a margherita without mozzarella.

The best pizzerias by the slice in Rome

There will be hundreds, without a doubt our favorites are:

• Panificio Roscioli – Via dei Chiavari, 34
• Forno Campo de Fiori – Piazza Campo de Fiori
• Pommidoro – Via delle Acacie, 1
• La Casa del Supplì – Piazza Re di Roma, 20
• Pizza Zazà – Piazza sant’Eustachio, 49
• La Boccaccia –  Via Leonina, 73
• Pizza Ennio e Osvaldo – Via degli Ausoni, 25
• Sancio – Via della Torre Clementina – Fiumicino (RM)
• Supplì – Via San Francesco a Ripa – Trastevere

The best pinsa restaurants

Usually you can take a seat eating at the table like in a pizza restaurant.

• Pinsa un pò – Via dei Gracchi, 7
• Pinsa e buoi – Via Carlo Felice, 51
• Lievito Madre 00 – Viale Ippocrate
• La schiacciata romana – Via Folco Portinari, 34
• Domus pinsa – Via Prenestina, 711

If you want to know the history and legend of pizza by tasting different types of the highest quality, take part in our pizza tour of Monti district in Rome. Monti is a beautiful district of Rome, near the Colosseum, with the highest concentration of pizzerias of different tradition. Gaetana, Neapolitan, fried, Roman.
A way to experience a tour of Italy, just using your taste buds.