If you’re heading to Naples (Napoli), I’m guessing one thing you’ll definitely want to do is visit
museums and art galleries eat pizza.
Prior to visiting, I did plenty of
research as to where the best places are to do just that. Sadly, some of those on my list were closed for their August holidays (Starita and 50 Kalò being the most notable examples).
There are already various ‘best of’
and ‘top 10’ lists on the internet, unlike the authors of the majority of these,
I’m not a self-proclaimed pizza expert (to be honest, I’m not even that much of
a pizza fan. “Sacrilege!” I hear some cry). But, as they say, “when in Rome”
and I was in Naples… “the home of pizza”, it would have been rude not to!
Throughout many of the numerous
lists, constants as to where the best pizzas are to be found include historic
pizzeria such as, Da Michele (made famous by Julia Roberts in “Eat Pray Love”), Di Matteo (made famous by Bill Clinton), Starita (made famous by Sophia Loren
and having a branch in New York) and Pizzeria Sorbillo.
Whilst these pizzerie have
been around for many, many years (Da
Michele dates back to 1870), one upstart that has been challenging for the
number one spot in these lists is La Notizia – an artisanal pizzeria by pizzaiolo Enzo Coccia.
Pizzas in Naples are perhaps a
little different to what you are used to – wood fired (taking just 60 – 90
seconds to cook), they have an ultra thin base with a fluffy, chewy crust.
Signs of a perfect pizza show singe marks called ‘leoparding’ on the crust and
base.
The thinness of the dough, along
with oil and tomato sauce pooling in the centre (giving a ‘soupy’ consistency)
mean they are usually eaten with a knife and fork or via the ‘quad fold’ method, if
enjoyed as street food.
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| L'Antica Pizzeria Da Michele |
L'Antica
Pizzeria Da Michele (Via
Sersale, 1/3) – often touted as “the best pizzeria in the world”, Da Michele
was undoubtedly the busiest (and touristy) of the places I visited – no doubt
helped by the scene from Eat Pray Love with Julia Roberts (I haven’t seen it)
and its status in the guide books but mostly, I’m sure, down to the fact that
the pizza was indeed, quite special.
Like a supermarket deli counter, the deal here is get
a number and wait in the street with scores of others until it’s called. Luckily,
I was on my own and was ushered straight through to join three moody French
(not that all French people are moody but these were) people to make a table of
four.
Da Michele famously serves just two types of pizza,
the ‘Marinara’ (tomatoes, oregano,
olive oil, and garlic) and ‘Pizza
Margherita’, which uses tomatoes, olive oil, fresh mozzarella di bufala and fresh basil leaves (applied before
cooking). I went for the latter. No complaints re: the pizza but the place was
just too busy and slapdash for my liking; I wouldn't return.
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| Pizzeria Trianon Da Ciro |
Pizzeria Trianon Da Ciro (Via Pietro
Colletta, 44/46) – just up and over the road from Da Michele, Trianon is another long established (1923) pizzeria.
With over 450 covers across three floors and two wood burning stoves, it seemed
much more popular with Italians in the know than tourists.
They offer a wider choice
than many Neoplolitain pizzeria, including their famous oversized ‘a ruota del carreto’ pizza.
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| Pizzeria Di Matteo |
Pizzeria Di Matteo (Via dei
Tribunali, 94) – another place popular with tourists, Di Matteo has a seating area but also serves
takeaway pizzas and fried snacks, including ‘pizza fritta’. Not wanting to wait
for a seat, I ordered a pizza to take away. Like all pizza in Naples, it was
good but not worth the wait.
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| La Figlia Del Presidente |
La Figlia Del Presidente (Via Grande Archivio 23) – In Naples, it’s much
more common to find a pizzaiolo
(male pizza chef) than a pizzaiola. At La Figlia Del Presidente (The President’s Daughter – it was her father
who cooked the pizza for Bill Clinton at Di Matteo), Maria Caccialli serves her
pizzas in a glorious setting within an old vaulted bomb shelter. A delightful
place!
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| Pizzeria Al 22 |
Pizzeria Al
22 (Via Pignasecca 22) – located
at number 22 on the bustling market of Via Pignasecca, I particularly enjoyed
this pizzeria. If I was a local I think it would be one of my favourite pizzerie. Unlike the touristy haunts
in the guides, it was not too busy but still served an excellent quality, value
for money product. Their ‘Marinara’
was the best I ate. Friendly folk too!
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| Pizzeria La Notizia |
Pizzeria La Notizia (Via
Caravaggio, 94) – Enzo Coccia owns two branches of the modern La Notizia (the other at Via Caravaggio, 53).
It’s a little out of the city centre but was so worth the effort (taxi ride). I
had a fairly traditional Marinara
with the addition of alici (anchovies)
– fresh, plump, vinegared ones (not the salty fellas you find in tins).
My wife had the ‘Citreum’
topped with the thinly sliced pith from Albedo of Procida lemons, buffalo
mozzarella and air-dried buffalo beef. This sounds like a new idea but is
apparently based on a 2000-year-old Roman recipe. We also enjoyed ‘Murzillo’ (something akin to a pizza
dough pita bread) – one with Pecorino di Laticauda & ventreseca (pork
belly) and one with brawn and smoked mozzarella.
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| L'Antica Pizzeria Brandi |
L'Antica
Pizzeria Brandi (Salita S.Anna di Palazzo, 1- 2) – the story goes that here, in 1889,
pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito was asked to create three special pizzas to honour
the visiting Queen Margherita.
It seems, that in the polite way queens do, she
commented on liking how, on one of the pizzas, the tomatoes, basil and
mozzarella represented the red, green and white of the Italian flag… the ‘Pizza
Margherita’ was born!
Judging by all the framed pictures along with an
endless stream looping on the wall mounted TV of the current owner draped over
various “celebrities”, the owner seemed to think he was one too – this I found
quite nauseating. Of all the places visited, this is the one I liked least – to
me if felt as they were trading on the history rather than quality of product
and friendliness of service; an overpriced touristy trap that I’d avoid in the
future.
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| Pizzeria Sorbillo |
Pizzeria Sorbillo (Via Tribunali, 38) – a large
family of pizzaioli there are a number of Pizzeria Sorbillo in the city. (The original at 32 Via
Tribunali, helmed by Gino Sorbillo is
the one with the best reputation). To enjoy sea views, the branch at Via
Partenope, 1 may be worth a visit.
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| Palazzo Petrucci Pizzeria |
Palazzo Petrucci Pizzeria (San Domenico Maggiore, 16) – an off shoot of the
Michelin starred Palazzo Petrucci, the pizzeria is also
located in the Piazza San Domenico
Maggiore and has plenty of outdoor seating, a great spot for people (and
pigeon) watching. Inside, the pizzeria
is swankier than most but you’ll pay for the privilege. My marinara pizza was
too tomato-ey for my taste. Good dough though.
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| La Masardona |
La Masardona (Via Capaccio Guilo Cesare, 27) – not strictly a
pizzeria, La Masardona is reputedly the best place in Naples for pizza fritta (fried pizza). Having never tried it before,
the idea sounded like an abomination but it really was quite enjoyable –
filthy, but enjoyable all the same.
It certainly had the
biggest queue I’d seen in Naples for a non-touristy place. I took the lead from
the chap in front of me and ordered the ‘Completa’ (ricotta and provelone
cheeses, tomato, basil, pepper and cicoli – a type, of pressed, fatty pork
rind).
Minutes later, I was handed
a wax paper wrapped parcel that felt like it contained lava from Vesuvius. I
found a place to sit – a broken chair by a roadside that may have ‘belonged’ to
the homeless chap sleeping nearby. I could see these taking off in Manchester
if anyone decided to put them on the menu.
Another “Ten of the best: Pizzas in
Napoli”?
Without time (or belly space) to try
all the highly rated places, I’ve
added an extra ten pizzerie to this
list that I hope to get around to trying on my next visit – if you’ve been to
these (or others), please comment at the bottom of this page.
Pizzeria Starita a Meterdei (Via Materdei, 27) – established in 1901, Starita is widely considered one of the
best. After making the journey we discovered it was closed for August holidays
so we sadly didn’t get to try.
Europeo Di Mattozzi (Via Marchese Campodisola, 4) – a Michelin listed restaurant, we had an
enjoyable meal here but did not get back for the pizza.
Pizzeria Da Pellone al Vasto (Via Nazionale, 93) – a quality place, in a
non-touristy area a little walk from the main station (I walked there but found
it shut for August, like many others) Their pizza fritta is a specialty.
Il
Pizzaiolo Del Presidente (Via dei Tribunali 120/121) – the pizzeria
belonging to the father of the daughter who owns La Figlia Del
Presidente who used to work on his
brother’s Di Matteo. Confused? Much.
Pizzeria
Port'Alba (Via Port'Alba 18) – widely believed to be the world’s first pizzeria,
traces it’s roots back to 1738. Since opening in it’s current location (1830)
the pizza oven has been lined with lava rocks from Mount Vesuvius.
Pizzeria
Oliva Concettina ai tre Santi (Via Arena
della Sanità, 7) – another traditional pizzeria (1951) not far from Starita.
Worth checking out if you’re in the area. The menu of fried dishes and pizzas
looks good.
Lombardi
a Santa Chiara (Via Benedetto Croce,
59) – annoyingly, Lombardi was not
on my original list and I must’ve walked past it on several occasions. Opened
in 1892, it’s looks another traditional Neapolitan pizza place that has had
time to perfect what they do.
Pizzeria Da Attilio (Via Pignasecca 17) – another on the bustling Via Pignasecca 17, opened
since 1944, it’s got to be worth checking out if visiting the nearby Al 22.
Closed August.
50 Kalò (Piazza
Sannazaro, 201B) – open just a couple of years, Ciro Salvo, the young,
pizzaiolo at the helm, is taking on the long established places by sourcing the
best ingredients such as heirloom tomatoes from small regional farms, premium
olive oil and the best “00” flour. Really gutted 50 Kalò was closed during my visit. There is always next time.
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