Neapolitan pizza: a slice of living heritage
In Naples, the art of pizza-making is a protected tradition, and the perfect Margherita is a point of civic pride.
Pizza may have conquered the world, but in Naples, the southern Italian city where it was born, it remains something close to sacred — an art form, a point of civic pride, and a tradition so cherished that the craft of the Neapolitan pizza-maker has been recognised by UNESCO.
The true Neapolitan pizza is a study in simplicity and precision. A soft, elastic dough, made from just flour, water, salt and yeast and left to rise slowly, is stretched by hand and topped sparingly — the classic Margherita with little more than San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and olive oil — then baked for a mere 60 to 90 seconds in a blisteringly hot wood-fired oven.
The result is a pizza with a puffy, charred, airy crust known as the cornicione, a soft and slightly soupy centre meant to be eaten with a knife and fork or folded, and a flavour that depends entirely on the quality of a few humble ingredients.
Naples takes its pizza seriously, with an association that certifies pizzerias following traditional methods, and fierce local loyalties to historic establishments that have been feeding the city for generations.
To eat a pizza in a bustling Naples pizzeria, amid the heat of the oven and the clamour of the room, is to taste a dish in its purest and most authentic form, and to understand why this simple combination of dough, tomato and cheese became one of the world's most beloved foods.