Pizza is one of the world’s most popular foods, with more than five billion pies eaten every year. But how much do you really know about its origins, and how it became the global obsession it is today? While people have been eating pizza in one form or another for thousands of years, what we’ve come to know (and love) as modern pizza only really appeared in the late 1800s. Read on to discover pizza's fascinating history, and find out where to try its many fabulous forms.
Read on to discover the true origins of pizza – and scroll through our gallery to read about different styles around the world.
Pizza, in some form or another, dates back thousands of years. In the 6th century BC, Persian soldiers used to bake flatbreads with cheese and dates on top of their battle shields. And in ancient Greece, a flatbread called plakous was eaten, which was flavoured with ingredients like herbs, onion, cheese and garlic. Across the ancient Mediterranean world, there are references to different flatbreads which are still eaten today and could be the early origins of pizza: focaccia, Greek pitta, lepinja in the Balkans and manakish in the Levant.
There’s an early reference to something resembling pizza in books three and four of the Aeneid, the epic poem written by Virgil (around 19 BC). Celaeno, the Harpy queen from Greek mythology, foretold that the Trojans would not find peace until they ate their tables. In book four, Aeneas and his men eat a meal consisting of round cakes topped with vegetables. They eat the bread (or early form of pizza?) and realise this is what Celaeno had predicted.
The origins of pizza are quite complicated, and one popular story is that pizza and pasta originated in China. The legend goes that explorer Marco Polo tried a dish called cong you bing (spring onion pancakes), which at the time was a bread dish filled with cheese and other ingredients. Back in Italy, he tried to find a chef who could make the dish and, after several failed attempts, eventually suggested putting the ingredients on top of the bread, rather than inside it. Lo and behold, pizza was born. However, historical evidence points to this being a myth.
The first known record of the word ‘pizza’ was in AD 997. Food culture historian Giuseppe Nocca revealed his findings back in 2015. The reference was discovered on a notarial document written in Latin from Gaeta, a city in southern Italy. The document demanded payment for, '12 pizzas, a pork shoulder, and a pork kidney on Christmas Day, and 12 pizzas and a couple of chickens on Easter Day'. It’s not however known what a pizza would have been at this time.
Like many foods we love today, pizza started as a dish for poor people. In the early 1800s, Naples was packed with lazzaroni – the working poor. These Neapolitan people needed cheap food that could be eaten as quickly as possible. Street vendors (like the illustration of a pizzaiolo pictured here) and informal restaurants used to sell flatbreads topped with various things to the lazzaroni, which are thought to be early forms of pizza.
Carol Helstosky, associate professor of history at the University of Denver and author of Pizza: A Global History notes that Italian authors in the early 1800s labelled the habits of the lazzaroni – including their early pizza-eating – 'disgusting'. It’s believed these flatbreads were topped with the typical pizza ingredients we know and love today.
For many, a tomato base is key to a perfect pizza. Interestingly, although tomatoes came to Italy in the 1530s, for a long time it was thought they were poisonous and only grown for decoration. The fruit was only introduced into Italian cuisine in the 18th and 19th centuries.
As pizza's popularity grew throughout the 1800s, pizzerias began to emerge. Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba is widely believed to be the world’s first pizzeria, having opened in 1830 in the centre of Naples. It’s still in business today, the small, unassuming spot nestled between two book shops.
In 1889, 28 years after the unification of Italy, Queen Margherita visited Naples. And when in Naples, she did what a Neapolitan would do and ordered a pizza from Pizzeria Brandi. Chef Raffaele Esposito and his wife created a masterpiece which resembled the Italian flag, featuring tomato (red), mozzarella (white) and basil (green). The story goes that they named the pizza after her and so, the Margherita pizza was born.
Although most stories say the Queen's Margherita pizza was the first to combine tomato, cheese and basil, its origins can be traced back to at least 1866. In Francesco DeBouchard’s book, Customs and Traditions of Naples, he describes one of the most popular pizza toppings at the time which included tomato and basil, often topped with slices of mozzarella.
Did you know it's illegal to change the recipe for some pizzas? The Specialità Tradizionali Garantite (STG), or Traditional Guaranteed Specialty, is an EU designation that identifies a product made according to a traditional practice or produced from traditionally used ingredients. Basically, it protects an original recipe and how it’s made. Since 2009, there are three Neapolitan pizzas with a STG: pizza Margherita, the Margherita extra (which uses mozzarella di bufala Campana DOP, basil and tomatoes) and the marinara (tomato sauce, garlic and oregano).
According to the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, which was established in 1984 to protect all things pizza, there are some very strict rules about how a true Neapolitan pizza must be prepared. The rules include that your pizza can only be a marinara or a Margherita; it must be cooked in a wood-fired oven; and use a particular set of ingredients like type 00 or type 0 flour. Bigger than 35cm (13.7in)? Not allowed. The centre more than 0.25cm (0.09in) in height? Not a proper pizza.
Although Neapolitans had started to realise how wonderful pizza was in the 1800s, it would still take a while for that craze to spread around the world. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, as Italian immigrants made their way to the US, they brought their pizza skills with them. Although initially, pizza was once again seen as something that poor Italian Americans ate at hole-in-the-wall restaurants or on the street.
One of the first documented pizzerias in the US was G Lombardi’s on Spring Street in Manhattan, New York City, which got the first pizza-business licence in 1905. The place is still going today, although it has moved location. In his book How Italian Food Conquered the World, food critic John Mariani said Lombardi’s is still using the same pizza oven from 1905. This photo shows the original Lombardi's location at 52 Spring Street around 1925.
Of course, when it comes to conversations around the best slice in town, things can quickly get heated, but there are a handful of places where John Mariani says are still making pizzas like the good old days: Totonno’s in Coney Island, NYC, which opened in 1924; Mario’s in the Bronx, NYC which opened in 1919; and Pepe’s in New Haven, Connecticut which opened in 1925. This photo shows the late Joseph Migliucci and daughter Regina Migliucci-Delfino, owners of Mario’s Restaurant in New York City.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, many Italian Americans moved around the US – and took pizza with them. Soldiers returning from Europe had also tried pizza while away and craved it back at home. Author Krishnendu Ray says in his book The Ethnic Restaurateur that it was only as Italian Americans climbed the socioeconomic ladder that their food became accepted and popular. Pizza was now increasingly seen as American, with non-traditional variations emerging.
New York City is bursting at the seams when it comes to the food on offer, but nothing is so quintessentially New York as a dollar slice. But what sets it apart? First, the slices are large and floppy (folding them in half while eating is highly recommended). New York pies are also a little thicker than the Neapolitan equivalents, but still classified as thin. Pizza researcher Liz Barrett says New York pizzas must be made with high-gluten bread flour and hand-tossed, with herbs often added to the tomato sauce and hard mozzarella used.
You might think Detroit is known for its coney dog, but Motown’s got a new name: dough town. Detroit pizzas are rectangular (like the grandma pizza associated with Long Island) and are similar to the Sicilian style of pizza: tomato sauce on a focaccia-like bread. They’re thick and big, but also still light. Detroit is the Motor City too, and that applies to its pizzas which are cooked in blue steel automotive pans. Legend has it, Gus Guerra got these pans from his friend who worked in a factory and his Sicilian mother-in-law came up with the recipe. Detroit-style pizza was born.
One of the most recognisable pizza styles is the Chicago deep dish pizza pie. It’s filling, it’s cheesy and it’s probably more pie than pizza. The buttery, almost pastry-like crust, which is at least 2.5cm (1in) thick, is covered with mozzarella, then the toppings (if using sausage, it will be added raw), sauce and a light sprinkling of Parmesan. These pizza pies spend around 30 minutes in the oven. Uno’s, which is credited with being the birthplace of the deep dish, Lou Malnati's and Giordano’s are considered the holy trinity of deep-dish spots in the city.
This highly regional pizza has been a local favourite since the 1920s but has only recently started getting worldwide attention. Also known as tomato pies, apizza or plain pies, they're prized for their simplicity, eschewing the familiar mountain of ingredients in favour of just a couple of high-quality toppings. Kind of a cross between New York and Neapolitan styles, New Haven pizza consists of a thin, flat base with a chewy crust that’s charred and blistered so it's almost black. In New Haven, Connecticut, there are three historic spots that specialise in the pizza: Frank Pepe's Pizzeria, Modern Apizza and Sally’s Apizza.
California-style pizza is a little harder to define. It’s a bit of an ‘anything goes’ philosophy, with a focus on seasonality and local produce. It emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, thanks to chefs like Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame and Ed LaDou, who was hired by Wolfgang Puck to run Spago and brought smoked salmon and caviar pizza to the world. Pies were also topped with goats’ cheese, Thai chicken, kimchi, nettle, duck prosciutto… the extensive list of ingredients goes on.
Americans have changed it up over the decades with many different regional variations available. Sicilian-style pizzas are served in square slices in New Jersey and over in Omaha they’re made with a biscuit crust. In Colorado you’ll find thick bases with even thicker crusts, while St Louis pizzas have an incredibly thin crust made with no yeast, toppings to the edge, sweet sauce, square slices (called ‘the party cut’) and Provel processed cheese.
Neapolitan pizza might be the original, but other regions in Italy have developed their own styles. Even Naples is responsible for more than one style, with pizza fritta – fried pizza dough in many shapes and sizes – also enjoyed. Panzerotti, which originated in Puglia, is another version of this: half-moon pizza dough stuffed with various ingredients and fried. In Sicily, the sfincione pizza has a thick, spongy crust and is topped with caciocavallo (a dry, crumbly cheese), breadcrumbs, onions and tomato sauce.
Over in the capital, Rome is responsible for a couple of different styles. Pizza alla pala (paddle pizza) was invented as a way to use up leftover dough. It uses highly hydrated dough and is cooked at a lower temperature in an electric oven. The result is a crisp exterior and a fluffy interior. There’s also the pizza tonda Romana, which has a crispy, very thin crust. In Torino, you’ll find Italy’s Chicago deep dish equivalent: pizzas baked in small round pans with a thick, soft crust.
Other countries also have their own styles of pizza, whether it’s close to what we know as pizza or bears a passing resemblance. In Poland there’s zapiekanka (pictured), a baguette-like pizza topped with cheese, Polish ketchup and other ingredients. Across Turkey and Amenia, people enjoy lahmacun or lahmajoun, a thin and crispy flatbread topped with seasoned minced meat and other garnishes.
In several Middle Eastern countries, sfiha (known as different things with different spellings; pictured) is made in the shape of a pizza and filled with minced meat and labneh (a strained yogurt-cheese). There’s also tarte flambée in France and Germany which is a thin pastry topped with crème fraîche, cheese, onions and lardons.
Although nothing beats a fresh pizza, sometimes the ease of a frozen pizza calls. But where did it all begin? In the 1950s, pizza restaurants began offering refrigerated pizzas for customers to cook at home. And in 1950 in Philadelphia, Joseph Bucci filed the first official patent for frozen pizza titled ‘Method for Making Frozen Pizza’. However, the patent wasn’t granted until 1954, by which point various other companies were selling frozen pizzas.
Everyone has their favourite pizza restaurant, but the best known are the huge global chains: Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza and Papa John’s. Pizza Hut started in 1958 when brothers Dan and Frank Carney borrowed $600 (about $6,500/£5,130 in today's money) from their mother to open a pizza restaurant in Wichita, Kansas. The place looked like a hut and there wasn’t enough room on the sign for more than nine letters, so it became known as Pizza Hut. Today, there are more than 18,000 locations in more than 100 countries.
Domino’s Pizza's origin story is rather similar to Pizza Hut's. In 1960, brothers James and Tom Monaghan borrowed $900 (around $9,500/£7,500 today) to buy DomiNick’s pizza store in Ypsilanti, Michigan. James traded his half of the business to his brother for a Volkswagen Beetle and Tom changed the named to Domino’s Pizza Inc., opening the first franchise store in 1967. Today, there are more than 18,300 locations in more than 90 countries around the world, with the company selling an average of three million pizzas a day. Apparently, there are more than 34 million ways to create a single Domino’s pizza.
Papa John’s came a little later than Pizza Hut and Domino’s. High school student John Schnatter was working at a local pizza place in Jeffersonville, Indiana, but felt there was something missing. So, in 1984, he turned a closet at his father’s pub into a place where he could make pizzas, with just $1,600 (the equivalent to just under $5,000/£4,000 today) of funding for equipment. The pizzas became popular with locals and in the same year he opened the first Papa John’s restaurant. There are now more than 5,000 Papa John locations in 45 countries around the world.
We’ve established how important pizza is, which is probably one of the reasons it’s featured so often in TV shows, films and even music. There are some iconic moments: from Kevin McCallister devouring pizza in both Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, to Walter White angrily throwing an extra-large pizza on the roof of his house in Breaking Bad (pictured). The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are as obsessed as the rest of us (maybe even more so?) with pizza.
Pizza has even stolen scenes from megastar Julia Roberts. She's pictured here as Elizabeth Gilbert, who discovers herself (and proper pizza) in Naples in 2010's Eat, Pray, Love, and she also starred in 1988 rom-com Mystic Pizza, set in a Connecticut pizzeria. Then there’s John Travolta’s suave pizza-slice stacking in 1977 classic Saturday Night Fever. Perhaps he inspired Joey Tribbiani’s ‘Joey Special’ – the Friends character's personal order of two large pizzas.
There's no doubt that pizza is popular. Around five billion pizzas are sold worldwide every year, with three billion of those in the US and 1.6 billion in Italy. But which country actually eats the most? It might be surprising to learn that, on a per-person basis, Norwegians apparently eat the most pizza. With a population of around 5.5 million, the average Norwegian eats 27.5 pizzas a year. The average Brit eats 731 pizzas in their lifetime (nine pizzas per person, per year) while, in Germany, 94% of people eat pizza at least once a month, with 20% eating it more than three times a month.
We couldn't ignore the decades-old controversy over Hawaiian pizza. It was created in 1962, in Canada of all places, when Sam Panopoulos introduced pizza to his restaurant’s menu after a trip to Naples. He loved combining sweet and savoury flavours, so topped a pizza with pineapple and ham – and customers loved it. And the name? It came from the brand of tinned pineapple which was called Hawaiian. Over the years, the topping combo has split opinion – even landing the Icelandic president Guðni Th. Jóhannesson in hot water after he said pineapple on pizza should be banned.