Brief history of Italian Pizza and the most pupular types

However, it is sure that modern day Pizza with tomato base was invented in Naples, Italy. Not long after conqueror Cortez in the XVI century brought the tomatoes from America to Europe, farmers around the Vesuvius started to make a sauce from it. When cooked their acidity turns into sweetness and became very popular.

Pizza with tomato and some cheap local spices like oregano and garlic was originally sold in slices as street food especially to poor passers.

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There was even credit system, called pizza a otto, that allowed customers to pay up to eight days after they ate it. The first sit-in pizzerias in the city were the first ones in the world and came much later in the XIX century. Pizza became a full course to be enjoyed relaxed at a table.

Another milestone in the history of Pizza was the visit of queen Margherita of Savoy to Naples in 1889. For such occasion a local chef wanted to honour her with a new kind of pizza showing the three colors of the Italian flag and including a herb that for long time was ornamental and only in the XVII century was used as food: basil.

The pizza Margherita was born and until today it is still the most famous and chosen pizza in Italy.

What are the most popular types of Pizza in Italy?

1- margherita
2- mozzarella con prosciutto e funghi (with ham and mushrooms) ;
3- capricciosa (with eggs, prosciutto, mushrooms and baby artichokes);
4- pizza con i carciofini (with artichokes),
5- diavola: pizza con il salame (with spicy salami)