{"id":756,"date":"2020-06-25T12:58:26","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T12:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zainoo.com\/blog\/en\/?p=756"},"modified":"2020-06-25T12:58:26","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T12:58:26","slug":"the-art-of-making-neapolitan-pizza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zainoo.com\/blog\/en\/2020\/06\/25\/the-art-of-making-neapolitan-pizza\/","title":{"rendered":"The art of making Neapolitan pizza"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Neapolitan

\u00a9Bigstock.com\/Tuzenko<\/p><\/div>\n

By now you are more than familiar with the wide variety of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy, know many different natural and cultural landmarks and areas. Actually, there is a third list we have not been talking a lot about so far. The Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity deals with cultural expressions and oral traditions, customs, feasts and crafts. Italy currently is on this list a whopping twelve times including the traditional violin craftsmanship of Cremona, transhumance in the Mediterranean and the Alps, and the Sicilian puppet theatre \u201cOpera dei Pupi\u201d. However, we picked one piece of intangible cultural heritage that everyone should know \u2013 pizza!<\/p>\n

Welcome to Naples<\/strong><\/p>\n

The exact origin of the word \u201cpizza\u201d is unknown. Some traces lead to the Langobardic, the Arabic and Hebrew, but also to different Italian dialects. There\u2019s \u201cpice\u00e0\u201d or \u201cpizz\u00e0\u201d in Neapolitan, translating to \u201cpulling\u201d, with comparable terms in the Calabrian or the Medieval Latin language. Obviously, that would fit perfectly as the history of pizza is intricately connected to Naples. Even though somewhat contrastable dishes existed as early as in the Neolithic, first modern evidence was provided by Vincenzo Corrado writing about the Neapolitan style of seasoning pizza and pasta with tomatoes between 1715 and 1725. Generally, the evolution of pizza is connected closely to the growing popularity of the tomato in Southern Italy.<\/p>\n

\"Neapolitan

\u00a9Bigstock.com\/MalkovKosta<\/p><\/div>\n

There is many an exciting myth about the first \u201cmodern\u201d pizza. It was supposedly made in Naples \u2013 where else! \u2013 by Raffaele Esposito on 11 June 1889. King Umberto I and his wife Margherita desired a pizza. Esposito, very patriotically, used toppings in the colours of the Italian flag \u2013 green basil, white mozzarella and red tomatoes. This version has been known as Pizza Margherita ever since, Esposito\u2019s Pizzeria Brandi is world-famous to this day. Historians, however, have refuted this exciting tale. A newspaper article by the Washington Post from the year 1880 reports on the Queen\u2019s liking of pizza. She had various pizza bakers deliver their goods to her before eventually selecting eight different kinds. Esposito was the only pizzaiuolo who kept the royal court\u2019s acknowledgement of receipt.<\/p>\n

Lived pizza tradition<\/strong><\/p>\n

A look at the narrower tradition of the Neapolitan cuisine only knows two different kinds of pizza:<\/p>\n