Pizza –  A Gift to the World
“When the moon in the sky hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.”

Italy has given many gifts to the world, but the most known and loved is Pizza. Not Latin, the fundament on which many languages are built, not its Renaissance philosophers and masters in painting and music, not its world heritage treasures, sculpturers, inventors or explorers, but a simple flatbread that was made and eaten by the poor. 

Pasta or pizza, you can’t talk about Italian food without naming these two international favorites. Which is the most popular? If I were to generalize, I would say that the meal of choice when people go out in the evening with family or friends, is pizza. It’s relatively inexpensive, tasty to the point of being addictive, and difficult to make in a normal kitchen oven. Another reason is, with the exception of pizza, people feel that restaurant fare never quite measures up to what is prepared in most home kitchens,

At the Table
Your server hands you a menu and then stands hunched over his or her order pad, waiting for you to make a decision. You pour over it for the third time, overwhelmed by at least two dozen choices. Hmmm… Would it be some type of pizza rosse, or maybe a quattro formaggi from the pizza bianchi column, or maybe a pizza speciali, with prosciutto, or maybe one with anchovies or salsice? The perfect pizza though, is the one you like, and it’s different for everyone. 

A diner could be overwhelmed with so much to choose from, but I never have to look at the menu. For me, it’s a classic Neapolitan Margherita, elegantly simple, with San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and fresh basil leaves, topping a supple bottom with a puffy, airy, crust.

Margarita
The history of the simple pizza that is at the top of every Italian pizzeria’s menu. In 1889 a Neapolitan pizzaiolo baked three different pizzas for the visit of King Umberto and Queen Margarita to the city.

The Queen's favorite was one with the colors of the Italian flag—red from tomato sauce, white from mozzarella cheese and green from basil leaves. The story goes that this combination was named The Pizza Margherita in her honor.

Pizzeria Brandi, where the pizza baker Raffaele Esposito, is said to have invented  the Margarita Pizza in 1889, is still located in the heart of Naples.