The History Behind Margherita Pizza

When it comes to pizza the options are endless, you have countless toppings to choose from and if anything, those choices have only grown over the years. One stand-out and popular option is the Margherita Pizza. The toppings are inspired by the flag of Italy and include, fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella cheese, while simple in terms of pizza, the Margherita pizza has a taste like no other. So just how did this pizza come about? Here is some information on this beloved classic according to Wikipedia.

Origin and history
Filippo Palizzi, Il pizzaiolo, 1858
A widespread belief says that in June 1889 the pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito, Pizzeria Brandi’s chef, invented a dish called “Pizza Margherita” in honor of the Queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, and the Italian unification.

While the name Pizza Margherita may have been popularized because of the Queen’s visit, a pizza made with the same toppings was already present in Naples between 1796 and 1810. In 1830, in the book Napoli, contorni e dintorni, written by Riccio, it was described as a pizza with tomato, mozzarella, and basil. In 1849 Emanuele Rocco recorded different pizza toppings like basil, tomatoes, and thin slices of mozzarella; the mozzarella was thinly sliced, and arranged with a flower shape over the tomato sauce, along with the basil leaves: this may be the real origin of the name Margherita (meaning daisy).

In 1866 Francesco De Bourcard, writing about the Naples traditions, described the most commonly used pizza toppings at that time, included the ones called today pizza marinara, pizza Margherita and calzone:

The most ordinary pizzas, called coll’aglio e l’olio (with garlic and oil), are dressed with oil, and over there it’s spread, as well as salt, the origanum, and garlic cloves shredded minutely. Others are covered with grated cheese and dressed with lard, and then they put over a few leaves of basil. Over the firsts is often added some small sea fish; on the seconds some thin slices of mozzarella. Sometimes they use slices of prosciutto, tomato, arselle, etc… Sometimes folding the dough over itself forms what is called calzone.

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Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_Margherita