Pizza Man Delivers!

When my hubby was in college he earned the nickname “Pizza Man” for very good reason! He had an appetite for dough and sauce and cheese like nobody’s business!

Dom was a big guy, massive, hulk-y, and athletic. He had a big heart as well as a big desire for one of Naples finest…pizza, of course! Most nights, after football practice, you’d likely find Dom enjoying an entire pizza from the closest pizzeria that would deliver. I’ve always thought I could put sauce and cheese on just about anything – call it a pizza – and he’d eat it…happily. He is not fussy when it comes to pizza, but he sure knows a great one when he has it.
And we did…

While in Rome, we had the great fortune of doing a food walking tour through the working-class neighborhood of Testaccio. A suburb of Rome named for the mountain of discarded clay vessels that were once used to carry wine and oil. This neighborhood sits at the center of town – Monte Testaccio.

Extended side-note here…I just have to say it…how pleasing is it that Italy can take a 2000 year old pile of rubbish (let’s face it – the mountain is made of discarded, unusable broken terra-cotta pots) and turn it into a landmark that is not only beautiful, but is the inspiration for its neighborhood name; it draws tourists in like bees to honey; and teaches the world through its archeological information. How I love this culture that sees beauty and potential in its debris.

Back to what I was saying…

As part of our tour we were treated to the 3rd best pizza in all of Rome. Pizza Margherita from Volpetti Piu. Man! I can’t imagine what the 1st and 2nd place pizzas tasted like…this was amazing!

Dough – perfectly thin and crispy. Sauce – vibrant and robust. Buffalo Mozzarella – fresh and gooey. Basil – sweet and earthy.

And can we talk for a moment about the colors? They say we eat with eyes our first. Yes, it is true…and as stuffed as we were from viewing – we took a chance and ate it anyway…it tasted as good as it looked! Oh my.

Do I even have to describe the pure joy my hubby was experiencing on that bright Tuesday morning in that dimly lit, sun-dappled pizzeria? (The lights were out due to a power outage.) Could the world have been any more perfect for Dominick in that moment? It was all I could do to get him out the door. Thankfully, this was one of our first stops; he knew he had a lot more deliciousness ahead of him!

Two thumbs up, for sure!!!

How about a little pizza history? Legend has it that Pizza Margherita was invented for Queen Margherita in honor of her visit to Naples, Italy, in 1889. The Royal Palace of Capodimonte commissioned rock-star pizzaiola Raffaele Esposito to undertake this task. Fun fact – during this time in history, Italy’s best food personalities were more popular than even the finest actors. So Raffaele came up with the idea for a pizza to display the colors of the Italian flag. In doing so he decided to use mozzarella to represent the white stripe of the flag, tomato sauce to represent the red stripe, and basil to represent the green stripe. Another fun fact – until this time pizza was made from only dough and marinara sauce or dough and olive oil and salt, aka, pizza bianco. Though pizza had been around since the 1700’s, mozzarella did not make its way onto it until the late 1800’s. Final fun fact – Queen Margherita didn’t try anything until her taste-tester tried it first! Sign me up!!

Salute!

TOMORROW BEGINS TEXTLESS TUESDAYS… SEE YOU THERE!