I have heard lots of tales about the history of pizza while I was in Italy but its history without a doubt was not well documented. My best guess is because pizza for a long time was considered as "cucina povera" or food for the poor. During the 16th century it became common to find what we know today as pizza in the poor areas of Naples, but it wasn't until pizzamaker Rafaelle Esposito created 3 pizzas for the queen of Italy Margherita of Savoy that pizza became popular. The queen felt in love with the mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil pizza and since then the world was blessed with what we now call pizza margherita.
I had to go to Naples to check that out and paid a visit to Pizzeria Gino Sorbillo. Although the pizzeria is famous and attracts hordes of tourists and Neapolitans, the place is very simple, totally no frills. I went for lunch and the place was filled within 30 minutes. The menu is very straight forward, and has many vegetarian options. The pizza is huge and even though other patrons were ordering one pizza per person, I though that it was too much and I decided to share a pizza margherita (of course). Surprisingly, the pizza was so thin and juicy that melted in my mouth. I could not believe that we finished the pizza and we were still hungry. I could have stopped at that moment but it was so good that I had to ask for a second one. For the second time we ordered Pizza Elena (with artichokes) and it was also very good.
I have to admit that the Sorbillo's pizza margherita was the best pizza I had in my entire life. I don't know if I would come back to Naples but boy, I would not mind making a pit stop there one day just to eat some great pizza.
No comments:
Post a Comment