A Brief History of Pizza: 1 is a travelogue by Jack Rusher, published here Monday, January 21, 2008. It is part of Appreciation.
The first part of a series tracing the history of one of the world’s oldest prepared foods.
New York to Italy
Most discussions of the history of pizza end in an argument between those who believe it originated in Naples and those who advocate a Roman origin. This is unfortunate, because both theories are ultimately wrong. Pizza, as it turns out, is one of the oldest prepared foods in the world.
1. The best pizza in New York is among the best pizza in the world. Lombardi’s still does a fine pie, but I prefer Lil’ Frankie’s.
Last year, I took an extended holiday during which I tracked the history of pizza from its point of arrival in the new world — New York City in general, Lombardi’s Pizzeria1 in particular — to its homeland in Asia Minor.
A freshly prepared pizza at Lil’ Frankie’s. Photo by Miss Ginsu.
2. The Etruscans and early Greek settlers of the Italic peninsula ate a focaccia-like bread with toppings. The name itself comes from latin: panis focacius was a flat bread baked in the ashes of the hearth (“focus” in Latin).
My journey took me first to Rome, where I sampled various Roman version of the famous pie. They ranged from square-cut pieces of decorated focaccia2 to delicate, thin-sliced perfection.
The most famous, and oldest continuously operated, pizzeria in Rome is called Est, Est, Est. It was originally opened by a family of Neapolitan vintners who sold pizza to bring in customers for their wine. They still serve their own wine, but the crowd mainly comes for their classic Pizza Margherita.
A Pizza Margherita at Est, Est, Est.
3. “Manna From Heaven.” If they had a website, I'd link to it. Instead, I urge any reader who finds himself in Rome to walk the streets of San Lorenzo in search of manna.
Fame aside, the absolute best slice in Rome comes from a tiny shop called da manna dal cielo3 in the charmingly rundown college neighborhood of San Lorenzo. They have around a half dozen varieties on offer at any moment, with the recipe for each kind printed on the menu. They take the sources of their ingredients very seriously — “00” grade organic whole wheat bread flour, sea salt, local vegetables.
The proprietors of Est, Est, Est, along with a number of Italian pizza enthusiasts, told me that one could only taste the flavor of truth baked into pie form in Naples, a couple hours south by train.
4. The name Naples is a corruption of the original Greek name of the city, Neapolis (“New City”). The Greek founders arrived there by the 7th Century BCE, and may have been there as early as 1050BCE.
5. (from latin, crustum)
6. This is, of course, a matter of taste; some acquaintances of mine prefer the Neapolitan pizza to all others.
In Naples4, I conducted a door to door tour of the local pizzerias, finding considerable variation in crust5 and crumb, but uniformity of toppings. The pizzas were generally excellent, but none of them sang with the angelic voices I’d heard at da manna dal cielo6.
My Italian friends told me about regional flat bread preparations from other parts of the country, including the Piadina from Romagna, but the strongest case was made by one native Neapolitan who advocated a Greek origin in deep antiquity. He suggested that my investigation continue in the far south of Italy, along the Salentine Peninsula.
7. “Greater Greece,” the area colonized by ex-pat Greeks around the 8th Century BCE.
8. Griko.
Salento — the southeastern projection of the Italian boot that juts into the Adriatic — is, along with Calabria and Sicily, one of the last parts of ancient Magna Graecia7 where a Greek dialect8 is still spoken today.
9. My American readers might be shocked at the notion of eating such a noble and companionable beast, but I must remind them that horses have been eaten by Eurasians for at least 35,000 years — long before they were ridden.
10. “Turned in on itself,” which in this case means wrapped around molten farmer’s cheese.
The excellent local cuisine is a combination of what one might expect from Italy and Greece. It stresses ancient staples like olive oil, chickpeas, fava beans, field greens, spiced horse meat9, and aubergine (often involtini10), mixed with post-Columbian additions, such as peppers and tomatoes, along with all sorts of pasta made from durum, emmer and spelt.
The fagottino is a small pizza with tomatoes and mozzarella cotto that's folded over and pressed like a panino.
11. (to eat).
It was during my stay in the regional capital of Lecce that I confirmed my long held suspicion that the word “pizza” was related to the Greek word “pita.” The Salentine bakers produce pizza, pizzo and pitta — all variations on pizza, some of which predate the arrival of the tomato — along with a kind of folded pizza called a fagottino whose name comes not from Latin, but from the Greek verb phage11
I decided to carry on to Greece to find out more about the history of the pita.