Pizza napoletana

Neapolitan pizza is a thin disk of dough made from wheat flour, water, salt and yeast, stretched by hand (no rolling pin) and topped with a few ingredients. It goes into a very hot wood-fired oven and comes out in just over a minute, with a soft, moist center and a crust — called the cornicione — that is high, airy and spotted with char. There are two reference versions: marinara, with tomato, garlic, oregano and olive oil, without cheese; and margherita, with tomato, mozzarella, basil and olive oil.

In 2010 the European Union registered Neapolitan pizza as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed. The registration does not protect the origin of the ingredients, but the method: it describes the dough, the hand-stretching technique, the traditional toppings and the cooking in a wood-fired oven.

In 2017 UNESCO inscribed the art of the Neapolitan pizzaiolo on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. What was recognized was the craft: preparing the dough, the gesture of stretching it by spinning it in the hands, and the work in front of the oven. According to UNESCO, about three thousand pizzaioli live and work in Naples, and the knowledge is passed mainly from master to apprentice within the pizzeria itself, as well as through courses run by local associations.

Pizza was born as a popular street food, sold in the streets and in the pizzerias of the old neighborhoods. Even today, in the streets of the historic center, some people buy pizza folded in four, the so-called pizza a portafoglio, to eat while walking.