History of pizza

The history of pizza began in antiquity, as various ancient cultures produced flatbreads with several toppings. Pizza today is an Italian dish with a flat dough-based base and toppings, with significant Italian roots in history.

A precursor of pizza was probably the focaccia, a flatbread known to the Romans as panis focacius, to which toppings were then added. Modern pizza evolved from similar flatbread dishes in Naples, Italy, between the 16th and mid-18th century.

The word pizza was first documented in 997 CE in Gaeta and successively in different parts of central and southern Italy. Furthermore, the Etymological Dictionary of the Italian Language explains the word pizza as coming from dialectal pinza, 'clamp', as in modern Italian pinze, 'pliers, pincers, tongs, forceps'. Their origin is from Latin pinsere, 'to pound, stamp'.

Origins

Foods similar to pizza have been prepared since ancient times. References to pizza-like dishes appear throughout early history.

• In the 6th century BCE, Persian soldiers serving under Darius the Great baked flatbreads with cheese and dates on top of their battle shields.
• In ancient Greece, citizens made a flatbread called plakous (πλακοῦς, gen. πλακοῦντος – plakountos) which was flavored with toppings such as herbs, onion, cheese, and garlic. Another term for this type of flatbread was placentae (a term for pastries of flour, cheese, oil, and honey). They are mentioned by Athenaeus of Naucratis, a 2nd-century grammarian, who writes that they were topped with fruit puree called coulis and used as sacrificial offerings.
• One example of a Roman bread that was covered with numerous toppings (such as cheese spreads called moretum, and fruits) was called adorea or libum adoreum. These flat breads were made with wheat, honey, and oil. A painting of this ancient Roman food was found at Pompeii.

Examples of other flatbreads that survive to this day from the ancient Mediterranean world include focaccia (which may date back as far as the ancient Etruscans); manakish in the Levant, coca (which has sweet and savory varieties) from Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands; the Greek pita; lepinja in the Balkans; and piadina in the Romagna part of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.

By the late Medieval and early modern eras, flatbreads, cakes or pastries eaten with toppings, such as galettes and cocas, were common throughout the Mediterranean region. In 16th-century Naples, some galettes were referred to as "pizza"; it was known as a dish for poor people, particularly as street food, and was not considered a kitchen recipe until much later. It was not until the Spanish brought the tomato from the Americas and developed the modern tomato that "pizzas" in their modern conception were invented. It is said that the tomato reached the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, when it was part of the Spanish Empire, through either Pedro Álvarez de Toledo in the 16th century or viceroy Manuel de Amat, who may have gifted some seeds to the Neapolitans in 1770 on behalf of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Modern era

In 1843, Alexandre Dumas described the diversity of pizza toppings.

An often recounted story holds that on June 11, 1889, to honor the queen consort of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, the Neapolitan pizza maker Raffaele Esposito created the "pizza Margherita", a pizza garnished with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, to represent the national colors of Italy as on the flag of Italy. But the pizza Margherita already existed: "The most popular and famous pizzas from Naples were the 'Marinara', created in 1734, and the 'Margherita', which dates from 1796–1810. The latter was presented to the Queen of Italy upon her visit to Naples in 1889, specifically on account of the colour of its seasoning (tomato, mozzarella, and basil), which are reminiscent of the colours of the Italian flag." Later research casts further doubt on this legend, also undermining the authenticity of the letter of recognition, pointing that no media of the period reported about the supposed visit and that the story was first promoted in the 1930s–1940s.

In 1830, a certain "Riccio", had described a pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil in the book Napoli, contorni e dintorni.

Emmanuele Rocco described in 1849 the main types of pizza, today called marinara, Margherita, and calzone in Francesco De Bourcard's second volume of Usi e costumi di Napoli e contorni descritti e dipinti:

The most ordinary pizza, called coll'aglio e l'olio (lit. 'with garlic and oil'), is dressed with oil, and over it is spread, as well as salt, origanum and garlic cloves shredded minutely (optionally). Others can be covered in grated cheese and dressed with lard, and then they put on a few leaves of basil. Over the former is often added (depending on the region) some small seafish; on the latter some thin slices of mozzarella. Sometimes they use slices of prosciutto, tomato, arselle, etc. Sometimes folding the dough over itself to form what is called calzone.

Slowly the flatbread with toppings started to be appreciated by all social classes, although initially it was produced by bakeries and meant to be eaten while walking. In the first decades of the 19th century this changed with the opening of the first pizzerias with tables in Naples. The first was Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba in 1830, followed by the opening of Le stanze di Piazza Carità (today Mattozzi) by Antonio la Vecchia in largo della Carità in 1833. The scholar and minister of public instruction Francesco de Sanctis describes the latter in his memoirs as the place he used to go eat pizza with his friends when he was 16:

In the evening we sometimes went to eat pizza in the stanze at largo della Carità.

Pizza evolved into a variety of bread and tomato dish often served with cheese. Until the late 19th or early 20th century, the dish was often sweet, not exclusively savory, and earlier versions that were savory resembled the flatbreads now known as schiacciata. Pellegrino Artusi's classic early-20th-century cookbook, La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene gives three recipes for pizza, all of which are sweet. After the feedback of some readers, Artusi added a typed sheet in the 1911 edition (discovered by food historian Alberto Capatti), bound with the volume, with the recipe of pizza alla napoletana: mozzarella, tomatoes, anchovies, and mushrooms. By 1927, Ada Boni's first edition of Il talismano della felicità (a well-known Italian cookbook) includes a recipe using tomatoes and mozzarella.

Innovation

By the late 18th century, it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flatbread, thus the pizza began.

According to documents discovered by historian Antonio Mattozzi in the State Archive of Naples, in 1807, 54 pizzerias existed; listed were owners and addresses. In the second half of the 19th century the number of pizzerias increased to 120.

In Naples, two other figures connected to the trade existed—the pizza hawker (pizzaiuolo ambulante), who sold pizza but did not make it, and the seller of pizza a ogge a otto, who made pizzas and sold them in return for a payment for seven days.

The pizza marinara method has a topping of tomato, oregano, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. It is named marinara because it was traditionally prepared by the seaman's wife la marinara for her seafaring husband upon returning from fishing trips in the Bay of Naples.

Pizza Margherita is topped with modest amounts of tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil. It is widely attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito, who worked at the restaurant "Pietro... e basta così" ('Pietro... and that's enough'), established in 1880 and remaining in business as Pizzeria Brandi. Although recent research casts doubt on this legend, the tale holds that, in 1889, he baked three different pizzas for the visit of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy. The Queen's favorite was a pizza evoking the colors of the Italian flag—green (basil leaves), white (mozzarella), and red (tomatoes). According to the tale, this combination was named pizza Margherita in her honor. Although those were the most preferred, there are many variations of pizzas today.

Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana ('True Neapolitan Pizza Association'), which was founded in 1984, has set the very specific rules that must be followed for an authentic Neapolitan pizza. These include that the pizza must be baked in a wood-fired, domed oven; the base must be hand-kneaded and must not be rolled with a pin or prepared by any mechanical means (i pizzaioli—'the pizza makers'—make the pizza by rolling it with their fingers) and that the pizza must not exceed 35 centimetres in diameter or be more than one-third of a centimetre thick at the centre. The association also selects pizzerias globally to produce and spread the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana philosophy and method.