Pizza is a salty gastronomic product composed of a dough made of flour, water and yeast and seasoned with the most varied ingredients.
Given its fame, in 2017 UNESCO declared the intangible heritage of humanity "the art of the Neapolitan pizza maker".
Discover its origins and places to eat the best pizza in Rome.
The history of pizza: where and when was pizza born?
The history of pizza is long and complex and has roots far away.
In Sardinia, archaeologists found evidence of bread baking over 7000 years ago. It was a dough very similar to what would turn into pizza in the following centuries and already then the dough was seasoned in many different ways to flavor and vary the recipe.
For example: In the 6th century, the Persian soldiers of Darius the Great, baked a scone with cheese and dates on the battle shields; in ancient Greece, the citizens produced a flat bread called plakous which was flavored with seasonings such as herbs, onion, cheese and garlic.
Other examples of leavened and flattened floors, similar to pizza dough, and that survive to this day from the ancient Mediterranean world are focaccia, which can go back to the ancient Etruscans; Coca, a variety of sweet and savoury pizzas from Catalonia, Valencia and the Balkan Islands; Italy, piadina from Emilia-Romagna, carasau, spianata and pistoccu from Sardinia.
It is also worth mentioning that in Europe there are many similar recipes and based on the idea of covering flat pizza dough with cheese, meat, vegetables and seasonings such as Alsatian flammkuchen, German zwiebelkuchen and French quiche.
Our tradition, attests the first testimonies of the word "pizza" in the year 996 near Gaeta and derive from the Latin vulgar At the end of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, some news speak of a soft pizza called the "mastunicola" and prepared with basil, lard, cheese and pepper.
Then the pizza spreads to the "cecinielli" (juveniles of blue fish).
The spread of pizza par excellence, the one with tomato, occurs in the mid-eighteenth century in the Kingdom of Naples. According to a universal narrative, it was the Neapolitan cook Raffaele Esposito who in 1889 created, in honor of Queen Margherita of Savoy, the Pizza Margherita: tomato, mozzarella and basil (the tricolor in honor of the Queen and Italy).
The first pizzerias as places to eat pizza at the table, spread to Naples in the early nineteenth century. The oldest Italian pizzeria still existing today is the Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba, located in the historic center of Naples.
For this, the pizza remained typical Neapolitan, and tourist attraction for the city of Naples, until the early 900', when then, slowly began to spread throughout the rest of the boot and the rest of the world, thanks to the strong migratory flows that from Campania pushed many people to seek fortune in other states and continents.
What pizza is Rome famous for?
Pizza is a popular product in Rome.
Pizza alla Romana has quite recent origins, dating back to the post-war period exactly 200 years after the invention of the Neapolitan pizza.
The first type of pizza widespread in Rome is pizza del fornaro, or pizza baked in the bread oven. One of the historic ovens of Rome dates back to the first half of the nineteenth century: the oven of Campo de' Fiori.
The pizza in the pan, instead, began to spread in the seventies and eighties. Angelo Iezzi was the inventor of Roman-style pizza.
After so much study, experiments and so much passion, Angelo has revolutionized the world of pizza by making a dough with high digestibility.
The ingredients of its success are: iced water, little yeast, little flour, extra virgin olive oil and a leavening for up to 72 hours. Roman pizza has the characteristic of being very thin and crunchy. Be careful not to confuse the Roman pizza with the pinsa, also very well known in the capital but with totally different characteristics.
How do you eat best pizza in Rome?
Pizza is an integral part of Roman life. With the presence of thousands of different pizzerias in the capital, it is no wonder that one of the frequently asked questions during a Roman excursion is: "Where to eat the best pizza in Rome?".
To answer this widespread question, we have selected 7 Roman pizzerias where you can eat an excellent pizza.
- Seu Pizza Illuminati in Via Angelo Bargoni, 10 - 18
- 180g Pizzeria Romana in Via Genazzano, 32
- Qvinto in Via Fornaci di Tor di Quinto, 10
- IQuintili in Via S. Biagio Platani, 320
- Antica Friggitoria Masardona Rome in Piazza dell'Oro, 6
- Sbanco in Via Siria, 1
- Sant'Isidoro - Pizza & Bolle in Via Oslavia, 41
But if you want to eat a pizza and don’t miss the beauty of Rome, we recommend you book our Destination Eataly tour. 9 stops in the main and strategic points of Rome to enjoy all the artistic and monumental beauty of the capital. At stop 5 you will find the Eataly Destination Terminal where you can taste the best traditional products, including pizza!
