Origins and History of the True Neapolitan Pizza
The origins of authentic Neapolitan pizza date back to 1889, when Italy’s queen, Margherita of Savoy, and her husband, King Umberto I, visited Naples.
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During their stay, Queen Margherita ordered a pizza made with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil.
During her trip, she learned about a well-known regional culinary specialty called “pizza.”
She decided to try it, so she contacted Raffaele Esposito, one of the most famous pizzaioli in Naples, and asked him to prepare a pie for her.
Raffaele Esposito was widely considered one of the best pizzaioli of his time and owned a pizzeria known as “Pizzeria di Pietro e Basta Così.”
In response to the queen’s invitation, he went to the royal residence in Capodimonte to personally cook pizza for both the king and the queen.
To show his respect for the queen, Esposito chose to make three distinct pizzas, using traditional Italian ingredients that also echoed the colors of the Italian flag.
The red of the tomato, the white of the mozzarella, and the green of the basil each represented a different shade of the Italian flag.
As a result, he created three different types of pizza: one with tomato, mozzarella, and basil, which he called “Pizza Margherita”; one with mozzarella, tomato, anchovies, and oregano, which he called “Pizza Marinara.”
Finally, one with mozzarella, tomato, basil, sausage, and peppers, which he called “Pizza Napoli.”
All of these pizzas are named after Italian cities.
“Pizza Margherita” was a dish Queen Margherita loved so much that she often called it her favorite.
Because of this event, Neapolitan pizza became famous throughout the United States and helped spread its reputation to other countries.
Since then, authentic Neapolitan pizza has been defined by the use of high-quality ingredients, such as “00” soft wheat flour, San Marzano tomatoes, PDO Campanian buffalo mozzarella, and extra virgin olive oil.
This has been the case ever since pizza was first created.
Neapolitan pizza can only be made by baking it at very high temperatures in a wood-fired oven.
This gives the pizza its characteristic thick, chewy crust, while leaving the base thin and crispy.
Because of its status as an iconic dish of Italian cuisine, Neapolitan pizza was recognized by UNESCO as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017.
The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) specifies the production standards and ingredient requirements that must be met to obtain the certification of “True Neapolitan Pizza.”
Neapolitan pizza has gained a following and acclaim worldwide in recent years, and there are now Neapolitan pizzerias in many cities across other countries.
The custom and skill of making Neapolitan pizza have been passed down from generation to generation, preserving the traditional recipe that developed in Naples more than a century ago.