Pizza is pizza. Right? Wrong!
There are more pizza versions and varieties than we can count on our fingers and toes. Even America, where we grew up eating pizza that arrived in boxes, has different styles that include New York slices, Chicago deep dish, rectangular Detroit pies and Buffalo pizza topped with cup-and-char pepperoni.
However, Italy holds a unique place in the modern world pizza scene. Italy, like NYC, is a pizza epicenter, a culinary ground zero where locals take their pies seriously.
Like many, we’re partial to wood-fired Neapolitan pizza topped with San Marzano tomatoes grown in volcanic soil and Mozzarella di Bufala made with local water buffalo milk. But, after visiting Italy numerous times, we’ve come to appreciate Roman pizza too as well as simple pies in Italian cities like Parma and Verona.
Although we once traveled to Caiazzo to eat pizza at Pepe in Grani, we have yet to eat Sicilian pizza in Sicily – an omission that plan to correct when we visit Palermo in the future. For now, these are the Italian pizzas that we crave most:
19. Margherita Pizza
If Neapolitan Pizza is royalty in Italy, then Margherita is its queen.
We’re not just saying this because the simple pie mirrors the colors of the Italian flag and was allegedly invented at at Naples’ Pizzeria Brandi in honor of Queen Margherita. We’re saying this because Margherita Pizza is the bar by which all other pizzas should be compared.
Popular all over Italy and in countries around the world, a traditional Margherita Pizza is a round (or roundish) pie topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil. It’s often the least expensive pizza on the menu and it rarely disappoints.
Discover where to eat the best pizza in Naples.
20. Maninara Pizza
Named after sailors called marinai, Italy’s classic Marinara Pizza doesn’t feature any fruits of the sea. Instead, this classic pie got its name from the seafaring men who ate ‘Marina’ Pizzas topped with non-perishable items during long voyages.
Classic toppings include tomato, garlic, oregano and olive oil. That being said, we sometimes add anchovies to our personal list of Marinara Pizza toppings.
