The Recipe for Pizza Margherita Is 120 Years Old
It Was Invented in 1889 by a Neapolitan Pizzaiolo to Honor the Queen
Jun 12, 2009
Like bread, pizza (or variarions thereof) is an ubiquitous presence in several culinary traditions, especially among Mediterranean countries.
Italy's iconic specialty was originally a tasty and cheap meal for the lower classes, often consumed as a late breakfast or quick lunch. The round pie was folded to a triangle and eaten on the go.
June 1989: Raffaele Esposito Invents the Pizza Margherita
In 1989, King Umberto I (1844 - 1900) and Queen Margherita (1851 - 1926) of Savoy visited Naples for the Summer. They had heard of the famed pizza pie and wanted to sample it, so they summoned one of the city's most celebrated pizza masters, Raffaele Esposito, and his wife, Maria Giovanna Brandi.
The couple prepared the three most popular pizza flavors for the royal couple, but Raffaele Esposito decided to add some fresh basil to the basic mozzarella cheese and tomato topping: green, white and red were the colors of the flag of the newly united kingdom of Italy, and the reigning monarchs greatly appreciated the overt homage.
In a further stroke of marketing genius, Esposito named the "new" (well, revamped, really!) pizza flavor after the Queen, Margherita: overnight, a legendary recipe was born!
The Home of Pizza Margherita: Pizzeria Brandi in Naples
Raffaele Esposito and Maria Giovanna Brandi's pizza restaurant, Pizzeria Brandi, is still in business in its original premises at the corner between Salita Sant'Anna di Palazzo and Via Chiaia near the famous Piazza del Plebiscito, and a must-go destination for any gourmet traveller on a culinary pilgrimage to Italy. The present proprietors, the three Pagnani brothers, on 11th June 2009 celebrated the 120th birthday of the Pizza Margherita recipe in grand style with a lavish parade in 19th Century costume.
Pizza Napoletana STG
Pizza Napoletana (Neapolitan Pizza) is soon to become an STG, or Specialità Tipica Garantita (Guaranteed Typical Speciality) approved by the European Union. A set of rules and regulations regarding its ingredients and method of preparation will then establish whether a pizza may (or may not) boast the appellation of being a "Vera Pizza Napoletana" (True Neapolitan Pizza). Neapolitan Pizza has two traditional varieties: Pizza Margherita (with tomato, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil leaves) and Pizza Marinara (with tomato, garlic, oregano and olive oil).
Fun Facts About Pizza
Throughout Italy there are about twenty-five thousand pizzerie (pizza restaurants and pizza parlors) employing some 120 thousand staff and grossing 5 billion Euros yearly.
According to a recent survey run by Doxa (one of Italy's leading polling institutes) and published in May 2009 by Coldiretti (Italy's largest farmers' union), pizza is the favorite lunchtime snack for 26% of the Italian population, second only to pasta at 29%.
Pizza is Officially the Most Famous Italian Word
An online survey held between November 2008 and January 2009 via the website of the Società Dante Alighieri (an institution aiming to promote the Italian language and literature across the planet), revealed that at 8%, pizza is the most widely known Italian word throughout the European Union. Significantly, eight out of the top ten words are culinary terms: pizza is followed by cappuccino and spaghetti (both at 7%), while espresso comes in fourth place with 6%, and mozzarella and tiramisu reach a respectable 5%. Funnily, pasta wasn't an option.
What Does Pizza Mean?
The term pizza stems from a Medieval Latin word, picea, which later became piza and finally took the present-day form of pizza. Picea probably came from the Roman Latin pinsa, a past participle meaning flattened, or ground.
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