A few words about Neapolitan Pizza...

The Italian tradition of pizza dates back almost 200 years when pizza was baked in wood burning fireplaces. The first Italian pizza, dating to 1830, was simply a basic round of bread with tomatoes baked in a wood burning oven or "forno a legna". It was in 1890 when Queen Regina Margherita found out about Raffaele Esposito's talents as a pizzaiolo in Port'Alba, Napoli that she made it a point to visit. Upon her arrival, il Signor Esposito created a special pizza for the queen, adding mozzarella to the basic tomato pizza. The resulting creation was dubbed the "Margherita" pizza named for her majesty.

An organization exists in Napoli named the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana that oversees the creation of authentic Neapolitan pizza. The pizze must have certain specific characteristics to be vera pizza Napoletana, or true Neapolitan pizza. The dough must be hand pressed with Italian flour and the precise amount of water. The tomatoes are always Italian, usually San Marzano style. And the mozzarella cheese (bufala Mozzarella) is that from water buffalo in the region between Napoli and Roma. These are the ingredients with practiced hands and the special high temperature wood burning oven that make vera pizza Napoletana.

Our restaurant was certified by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana in 1997 and was the first in New York and 93rd in the world to attain this recognition.

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