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History of the Pizza
[Susan Glasspool]
Man has been cultivating grain for thousands of years, using it to make flour which, kneaded with water, made a dough that could be cooked on red hot stones. This eventually led to the bread, flat breads, pizzas, lasagne and spaghetti we know today. The Egyptians later discovered ways of leavening the dough, inventing the first cone-shaped ovens. The mysterious forces behind the rising of dough were not always accepted by the various religious beliefs, among them the Jews, as they considered it impure. Others used it for religious offerings, as in many places in the world even today. These breads were gradually enriched with other flavourings, some savoury and others sweet, that we can find today in the form of cakes. From the year 1000 we can find reference to the primitive flat breads prepared in Italy and the word 'piza' can be found in the area of Naples soon after. This could have referred to a form of flat bread in use in the south and not necessarily bread covered with a topping as, even today in southern Italy, the word "pizza" also covers stuffed pasties and other forms of bread.
Pizzas had therefore probably existed for some time before their official appearance in the 18th century, from then on always topped with tomato and combined with other flavourings. Spaghetti with tomato sauce also appeared more or less at the same time and completely won over the Neapolitans before conquering the rest of the world. Tomatoes of course did not exist in Europe before the conquest of America and then it took years before their unique culinary qualities were discovered. Easily grown in the countryside around Naples, it was only a question of time before they were exploited by the local population.
The pizza became really popular in Naples in the late 18th century though the first proper pizzeria did not apparently open in Naples until 1830, as up until then pizzas had been sold in open-air stalls. The Port'Alba pizzeria, situated near the arch leading from Piazza Dante to Via Costantinopoli, cooked its pizzas in a wood oven and became a renowned meeting-place for artists, writers and poets.
The earliest pizzas were probably flavoured simply, with fish, oil and garlic, or mozzarella and anchovies, and could be stuffed and folded over into a half-moon shape (the "calzone" or savoury pizza). Tomatoes began to be used at the end of the century, in 1889 to be exact, when King Umberto I and Queen Margherita were staying at the royal palace of Capodimonte for the summer. The queen was curious to taste the local speciality that she heard mentioned by intellectuals visiting the court. As she obviously could not go to a pizzeria, Raffaele Esposito, owner of Pizzeria Pietro, il pizzaiolo, and his wife Rosa, the most famous pizza makers of the time, were invited to make some pizzas in the royalhttp://www.vivifirenze.it/cgi-bin/news/gi_mod0_lun.cgi?id=475 kitchens. They made three pizzas: one with fat, cheese and basil, another with tomato, garlic and oil and a third with tomato, mozzarella and basil, the colours of the Italian flag. Queen Margherita so enjoyed the last pizza that Esposito baptised it Pizza "Margherita" in her honour (though he did not invent it as the topping was actually already in use).
This same pizza was also prepared for Queen Maria Carolina of Bourbon, who was so fond of pizzas that she had a special oven built in the kitchens of her Palace of San Ferdinando, little realising that the colours of the pizza would be united under another dynasty and cause her exile.
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