With the discovery of cooking on stone, man couldn’t help but discover pizza as well. Indeed, the history of this dish, which has become a trademark of Italian (and Neapolitan, in particular) cuisine, dates back to ancient times.

During that period, in the Near East, people realized that cooking cereals or unleavened bread on stones could produce something truly delicious and original. Thanks to the ancient Egyptians, who discovered yeast, the history of pizza started to take shape. With leavening, crushed or ground cereal dough became soft, light, tastier, and more digestible after baking. And so, bread spread.

Having invented bread, the journey of pizza continued in ancient Rome. Farmers, after learning to cross different types of spelt to create flour (its name comes from “far,” which in Latin means spelt), kneaded flour from ground wheat grains with water, aromatic herbs, and salt. Then, they placed this round “focaccia” to cook in the hearth’s warmth, near the embers. The Neapolitans may not have received it well, but it was the Romans who used real bread disks to contain savory dishes. More or less round pizzas, but with a distant relation to the pizzas we can enjoy today under the shadow of Vesuvius. Many ingredients were still missing, some of which remained unknown for centuries.

Around the 7th century AD, with the arrival of the Lombards in Italy, a new Gothic-Lombard word began to circulate: “bizzo,” sometimes called “pizzo.” In German, “bizzen,” meaning bite.

Around the year 1000, the first official documents with the term “pizza” appeared. One such document, dated 1195 and written in Penne, Abruzzo, mentions “pizis” and “pissas,” referring to typical baked products of that time in the central-southern part of the peninsula, especially Abruzzo and Molise.

In 1535, in his work “Description of the ancient places of Naples,” the poet and essayist Benedetto Di Falco mentions that “focaccia” in Neapolitan dialect is called “pizza.” Thus, it became official: in Campania, the evolution of pizza never stopped, and neither did the tradition, such as that of the typical “schiacciata di farina di frumento” (flour flatbread) kneaded and seasoned with garlic, lard, and coarse salt, which continued to be favored by the people of the South.

In the 1600s, the modern history of pizza truly began. Dough for bread was cooked in wood-fired ovens, seasoned with garlic, lard, and coarse salt, or in the richer version, with “caciocavallo” cheese and basil. With the discovery of the tomato, which came from the Americas, everything took on a different flavor. Initially used in the kitchen as a sauce cooked with a little salt and basil, someone later had the intuition to use it, unintentionally creating the pizza as we know it today. Mozzarella, on the other hand, only completed this story in the 1800s. In the same century, pizza became widespread among the common people, but not only. Barons, princes, and rulers also enjoyed it, and it ended up on the tables during receptions hosted by the Bourbons, with Ferdinand IV having it baked in the Capodimonte ovens.

The first recipe for pizza as we know it today appeared in a treatise published in Naples in 1858, describing how the “true Neapolitan pizza” was prepared at that time. When the city was still the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Francesco De Bourcard, in his work “Usi e costumi di Napoli e contorni descritti e dipinti,” even mentioned a sort of “pre-Margherita pizza,” with mozzarella and basil. The tomato was still optional, and the toppings, it was written, could be “whatever comes to mind.” However, toward the end of the 1800s, the pizza with tomato and mozzarella even arrived in America thanks to Italian immigrants who moved to New York and made it just like in the Neapolitan capital.

After Neapolitan pizza had been introduced to the population with various varieties, its official approval came in 1889, during the visit of the then rulers of Italy, King Umberto I, and Queen Margherita, to Naples. This is a precious chapter in the history of pizza. During their walk through the city of Campania, the rulers were welcomed by Raffaele Esposito, the best pizza maker of the time, who prepared three classic pizzas for them: the “Mastunicola” pizza (lard, cheese, basil) of Maestro Nicola in the local dialect, the “Marinara” pizza (tomato, garlic, oil, oregano), and the “tomato and mozzarella” pizza (tomato, oil, mozzarella, oregano), made in honor of Queen Margherita and intentionally featuring the colors of the Italian flag. The queen enjoyed the latter so much that she wanted to thank and praise the creator in writing. The only way for the pizza maker to reciprocate the gesture was to give the queen’s name to his culinary creation: “Pizza Margherita.”

Between the 19th and 20th centuries, talking about pizza became quite normal. Over time, countless variations emerged to suit all tastes. The second wave of popularity, however, occurred after World War II. Pizza crossed the borders of southern Italy and reached the north. During the industrial boom in the Milan, Turin, and Genoa triangle, thousands of immigrants moved with their families, bringing their ways, customs, and food. They started making pizzas for their compatriots, and eventually, the locals also embraced it. In the 1960s, pizzerias spread throughout the country and, within a few years, across the world—from China to the Middle East, from Eastern Europe to South America.

The exact date of the first appearance of Neapolitan pizza is uncertain, but it can be presumed to be between the 17th and 18th centuries, a time when tomatoes, the pizza’s distinctive element, became widespread.

Historians believe that the first true Neapolitan pizza was what we now call the “marinara,” seasoned with garlic, oil, tomato, and oregano. Simple and common ingredients for a dish that would remain the people’s food and the quintessential street food for a long time.

“Food for the poor, a quick meal to eat standing or maybe on a street corner, in plain sight of everyone,” as written by G. Porcaro in his book “Sapore di Napoli. Storia della pizza.”

The pizzerias of that time were not places designed for dining in; rather, they were small workshops with a counter and a wood-fired oven where pizzas were made for takeaway or for street vendors. These vendors would roam the alleys with a “Stufa,” a copper or brass container used to keep the pizzas warm—similar to how delivery drivers now carry thermal containers through the streets of our cities.

Matilde Serao, in her work “Ventre di Napoli,” describes the daily life of the pizzaioli (pizza makers). During the night, they would produce a large number of pizzas, which they would hand over to their assistants or sellers in the morning. These assistants would distribute the pizzas on street corners. Once the pizzas were finished, the pizzaioli would make more, and so on until evening. Pizzas were not cooked “to order” like they are now; rather, they were produced in large quantities, similar to bread. Therefore, pizzas were also consumed several hours after baking, unlike today.

And what about pizzerias? Until the mid-1700s, there is no trace of them. The first ones that appeared were rather dirty places frequented by the lower classes, far from the convivial gathering places we are accustomed to today. It was not until the 1900s and the return of Italian emigrants from the United States that pizzerias spread throughout the entire country, but I will tell you more about that shortly.

Pizza, as the people’s food, also acted as a thermometer for market trends: its price varied according to the cost of raw materials and the freshness of the ingredients.

Once again, Alexandre Dumas writes, “When the pizza with little fish costs half a grain, it means that fishing has been good; when the pizza with oil costs one grain, it means that the harvest has been bad.”

To feed the poorest, old pizzas that were a few days old were sold at a much lower price than when they were fresh. There was also the so-called “pizza a oggi otto” (eight days from today), which could be paid for a week later. In short, pizza not only served as the people’s food but also sustained the poorest masses.

With the unification of Italy in 1861, a process of nationalization began, with the North adopting the typical customs of the South and transforming them into symbols of Italian identity. Thus, pizza crossed the borders of Campania and became known throughout the rest of the country, thanks also to the nobility, who, tired of French cuisine, found a tasty indulgence in this popular food.