The History of Pizza

The story of pizza goes back thousands of years, starting with early flatbreads and growing into the popular food enjoyed by people all over the world today. While the pizza we know-with tomato sauce, cheese, and various toppings-came from Naples, Italy, its path from a basic meal to an international favorite involves many places and ideas. Pizza’s history is about simple cooking, creative ideas, and why it appeals to so many people everywhere.

Pizza began as a simple and practical meal for workers and eventually became a dish loved by royalty and a regular part of meals around the globe. Its journey follows changes in society, farming, and trade. This article lays out how pizza got started, what inspired changes, and how it became so popular, showing that pizza isn’t just a dish-it’s a slice of history you can eat.

How Did Pizza Begin?

Pizza’s story starts in ancient times, long before anything like today’s pizza showed up in Italy. People have been making flatbreads with toppings for thousands of years, and this basic meal is seen all over the world. While the pizza we know is clearly Italian, the main idea-a piece of dough with different toppings-is old and common in human cooking.

Pizza’s move from ancient flatbreads to the modern slice involved different cultures and new cooking ideas. This shows how simple foods can become a worldwide favorite when they adapt and change. To really understand pizza, you need to look at both its old beginnings and the specific changes that happened in Naples.

What Does “Pizza” Mean?

The word “pizza” has a long history. The oldest known use appears in a Latin document from Gaeta, southern Italy, dating to 997 CE. This document says a bishop was paid “twelve pizzas,” so some kind of pizza-like food already existed then.

The exact root of the word is still discussed, but it may come from the dialect word “pinza” (clamp), which itself comes from the Latin “pinsere” (to pound or stamp). Another idea connects it to a Lombard word for “mouthful.” Either way, it points to pizza’s early use as simple, convenient, and easy-to-eat food.

When Did Pizza First Appear in History?

The word “pizza” first appears in 997 CE. Later, in the 1300s, records from the Roman Curia mention “pizis” and “pissas” as common baked foods from parts of Italy like Abruzzo and Molise. By 1535, a Neapolitan writer said that “focaccia in Neapolitan is called pizza,” showing a clear link between a type of bread and the idea of pizza.

Early Flatbreads and Pizza’s Roots

Flatbreads with toppings weren’t invented in modern times. Many ancient cultures came up with similar dishes on their own. While they weren’t exactly like pizza today, they set the stage for its development.

Flatbreads were a useful and filling food for everyone from soldiers to everyday people. Putting things on the bread was just a smart way to make a plain meal better, and this habit appeared in many cultures. It shows that people everywhere like to turn bread into a more interesting and satisfying food.

Which Ancient Cultures Helped Start Pizza?

Ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean made flatbreads topped with various foods. Here’s a quick look at some examples:

These styles all used flatbread as a base and added different tastes on top. Later cultures in Italy built upon these ideas, creating breads that looked more like today’s pizza.

How Did Flatbreads Become Pizza?

Flatbreads slowly turned into pizza over time as bread-making improved and new foods were introduced. For many years, people used flatbreads as plates that soaked up sauces, or they baked ingredients right onto the bread for extra taste. Discovering ways to make bread softer and tastier-using yeast and mixing grains-helped too. In Rome, people mixed flour, water, herbs, and salt to make round loaves cooked in hot ashes.

Tomatoes weren’t used until after they arrived from the Americas. Until then, flatbreads with toppings were common but didn’t have the red sauce we see today. Still, the habit of covering bread with other foods was common for centuries and set the groundwork for pizza.

How Did Pizza Develop in Italy?

Flatbreads with toppings may have existed everywhere, but it was in Naples, Italy, that pizza really took shape. This didn’t happen overnight-pizza grew out of Naples’ local food styles, its available ingredients, and the lives of its people.

Neapolitans, especially the working poor, needed fast, cheap, and filling food. Pizza fit the bill, and Naples became the place where flatbread with specific toppings slowly turned into what we now call pizza.

Why Is Naples Important to Pizza?

Naples has a special spot in pizza history. By the 1700s and 1800s, this busy Italian port city was home to many poor workers who needed affordable food they could eat quickly, often outside or on the go. Local cooks and street vendors sold flatbreads with oil, cheese, garlic, and later tomatoes. Pizza became a simple meal closely tied to life in Naples.

When Were Tomatoes Added to Pizza?

Tomatoes, native to the Americas, arrived in Europe in the 1500s but were first thought to be unsafe. It was in the late 1700s that people in Naples-especially those with little money-started putting tomatoes right on their flatbread, changing the color and taste. This step made pizza what it is today. First, tomatoes were cooked into sauces, but soon they were spread straight on the dough, giving pizza its now-famous red base and tangy flavor.

What Makes a Real Neapolitan Pizza?

Neapolitan pizza, or “pizza napoletana,” follows strict traditional rules, set by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. Some main rules are:

• Dough: Must be hand-formed (not rolled out by machines or with a rolling pin), soft, and stretchy. The pizza should not be wider than 35 centimeters and the center must be less than one-third of a centimeter thick.
• Baking: Must be cooked in a wood-fired oven at about 900°F (485°C) for just one or two minutes, creating a hot, bubbled, lightly-charred crust.
• Ingredients: Classic components include San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo or cow’s milk mozzarella, fresh basil, and extra virgin olive oil (for Margherita). The Marinara version uses tomato, garlic, oregano, and oil only.

These rules are there to keep the true style and taste of Neapolitan pizza alive.

How Did Pizza Become Popular in Italy?

At first, pizza was food for the poor in Naples, often sold by street vendors. Some early visitors described pizza shops as dirty, but the food’s popularity started to grow. Pizza’s movement beyond Naples is often linked to a visit by King Umberto I and Queen Margherita in 1889. According to the story, a pizza topped with tomato, mozzarella, and basil (like the Italian flag) was named “Pizza Margherita.”

Though the details of this story are questioned by historians, the legend helped pizza become more popular, raising it from a poor person’s food to one fit for royalty and the rest of Italy. Still, pizza stayed mostly in Naples until after World War II, when Italian families moved north for work and took their traditions, including pizza, with them. From the 1960s on, pizzerias spread across the country, cementing pizza as an Italian classic.

Who Created Pizza and Where Was the First Pizzeria?

Pizza wasn’t invented by one single person. Instead, it changed slowly over time. Still, we can talk about who helped make modern pizza popular and who started selling it in restaurants called pizzerias.

Who Gets Credit for Inventing Pizza?

No one person invented pizza-it developed over time. The story often mentions Raffaele Esposito-a pizza maker in Naples-in the creation of the famous Margherita pizza for Queen Margherita in 1889. This tale says the red, white, and green toppings were for the Italian flag. But later studies show similar pizzas were around before then, and much of the story became popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Still, the tale helped boost pizza’s image and spread its fame.

Where and When Was the First Pizzeria?

The oldest known pizzeria is Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba in Naples. It began as a street stand in 1738 and officially opened as a restaurant in 1830. This marked the change from pizza being street food to something enjoyed sitting down. Port’Alba used ovens lined with volcanic stones and offered a “pay later” system, showing how important pizza had become in daily life there. This pizzeria is still open today.

Other early pizzerias in Naples included Le stanze di Piazza Carità (now called Mattozzi), which was popular among local scholars. These spots were the start of the modern pizza restaurant scene.

How Did Pizza Become Popular Worldwide?

Pizza started as an Italian food, but it became a global item due to migration and cultural changes. This spread didn’t happen all at once. It grew, step by step, as Italians moved abroad and shared their food in new countries. Each new place shaped pizza in its own way, adding new toppings or cooking styles so it fit in.

How Did Pizza Come to the United States?

Pizza arrived in the United States with Italian immigrants, especially from Naples, who came between the late 1800s and early 1900s. At first, pizza was only found in Italian neighborhoods in cities like New York, Boston, Trenton, and New Haven. It was home-cooked or sold by small vendors.

After World War II, returning soldiers who had eaten pizza in Italy wanted it at home. As a result, pizza spread faster, reaching all kinds of Americans and showing up in TV shows and movies by the 1950s.

Who Started the First Pizzerias in America?

The first American pizzerias were opened by Italian immigrants:

• Filippo Milone: Opened a bakery in New York in 1898 and soon sold pizzas, laying the foundation for later shops.
• Gennaro Lombardi: Took over Milone’s business and opened Lombardi’s in 1905 (officially licensed in 1908), which still exists today.
• Totonno Pero: Worked at Lombardi’s before opening Totonno’s in Brooklyn in 1924.
• Frank Pepe: Started Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1925. He specialized in New Haven-style pizza, especially the clam pizza.
• Joe’s and Papa’s Tomato Pies: Opened in Trenton, New Jersey, in the early 1900s and are still run by the same families.
• Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo: Began Chicago’s deep-dish pizza by opening Pizzeria Uno in 1943.

Pizza in Canada and Latin America

Pizza became popular in Canada after Montreal’s Pizzeria Napoletana opened in 1948, with more pizzerias appearing during the 1960s. Canadian-style pizza often has pepperoni, mushrooms, bacon, and sometimes comes with foods like poutine. Quebec even has “pizza-ghetti,” a mix of pizza and spaghetti on the same plate.

Pizza also became a big part of food in Argentina, especially Buenos Aires, after large Italian immigration. Argentine pizza is usually thick and spongy, cooked in pans. Typical types include fugazza (onion pizza) and fugazzeta (onion and cheese). People in Buenos Aires often eat pizza with fainá, a chickpea pancake.

Modern Pizza Styles and New Types

As pizza moved around the world, it kept changing. Different areas created their own unique styles using local ingredients and preferences. Today, there are all sorts of pizzas, each with its own crusts, toppings, and ways of cooking.

How Has Pizza Changed Since the Beginning?

Pizza has changed a lot since it was just a flatbread. In Naples, pizza’s biggest update was the use of tomato. Once it moved to the United States, pizza turned into both a popular fast food and a frozen meal, sometimes far from the traditional version in Italy. New toppings, shapes, and cooking styles keep appearing as pizza reaches new places.

What Regional Pizza Styles Have Developed?

Over time, many places have come up with their own pizza recipes:

• New York-Style: Large, thin, and foldable slices with tomato sauce and grated mozzarella. The flavor of local New York water may play a role in its texture.
• Chicago-Style Deep-Dish: Baked in a deep pan, tall crust, lots of toppings, with sauce on top.
• Detroit-Style: Rectangular, thick, and airy, with cheese all the way to the edges for a crispy crust.
• California-Style: Known for creative toppings, including things like barbecue chicken, smoked salmon, and unusual cheeses.
• St. Louis-Style: Square slices, cracker-thin crust, and topped with Provel cheese (a mix of cheddar, Swiss, and provolone).

What Are Roman and Dessert Pizzas?

• Roman Pizza: Tends to have a thinner, crispier crust. Pizza al taglio is a Roman type sold by the slice, often in large rectangular shapes with many topping options.
• Dessert Pizza: Uses pizza crust as a base for sweet flavors-like chocolate, fruits, and marshmallows-instead of cheese and tomato. This version is a newer creation, mostly found in modern restaurants and at parties.

Other spin-offs like calzones (folded pizzas) and pizza fritta (deep-fried pizza) show just how many ways pizza can be made.

Pizza’s Place in Culture and Society

Pizza has gone from a basic meal in Naples to a food loved and eaten everywhere. It crosses borders and can be found in many countries, where people put their own twist on it. Pizza is now not just lunch or dinner-it brings people together and is often shared with friends and family.

Why Does Pizza Represent Italian Food?

Even though flatbreads are ancient, pizza is mostly seen as a symbol of Italy, especially Naples. Strict traditions in Naples help keep pizza’s identity strong. The story of Pizza Margherita ties it to the Italian flag, and UNESCO has officially recognized Neapolitan-style pizza-making as part of world cultural heritage. This connection makes pizza an important part of how Italy is seen, especially through its food.

How Has Pizza Affected Global Food?

Pizza is a comfort food almost everywhere. You can find it at parties, quick lunches, or fancy meals. It changes its form to fit what people in each place like-examples include unusual toppings in Brazil or Indian “paratha” breads similar to pizza. The pizza industry has led to new cooking tools, frozen pizza, and wide-ranging delivery services. Big pizza chains have even made “American-style” pizza common in other countries. Because of its adaptability, pizza has become a worldwide language of food, making it both a symbol of Italy and a global favorite with many different faces.