Origins of Pizza
Many people believe that Italians invented the pizza, however, the origins go back to ancient times. It is known the Babylonians, Israelites, Egyptians and other ancient Middle Eastern cultures were eating flat, unleavened bread that had been cooked in mud ovens. The bread was much like a pita, which is still common in Greece and the Middle East today. It is also believed that ancient Mediterranean people such as the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians were eating this bread with toppings of seasonings, olive oil and native spices.

Some accounts say the first pizza was created by the baker Raffaele Esposito in Naples. His creation was immediately a favorite, and in 1889, Esposito was called upon to make a pizza for the visiting King Umberto and Queen Margherita of Italy. According to the story, the Italian monarch King Umberto and Queen Margherita were touring the area. In order to impress them and to show his patriotic fervor Raffaele chose to top flat bread with food that would best represent the colors of Italy: red tomato, white mozzarella cheese and green basil. The king and queen were so impressed that word quickly reached the masses. The end results were that the dish was well received to the extent that others began to copy it.

"Pizza was la cucina povera (cuisine of the poor), based on necessity and what was available at the time. And so it remains today, notwithstanding that a liter of good extra-virgin olive oil can now cost as much or more as the finest wines." The key to great pizza is the crust. Once the crust is perfected, this humble food is raised up by its toppings.

Port 'Alba, Naples is credited with opening the first Pizza Shop in 1830. This Pizzeria is still open today.

Pizza Comes to America
It was the emigration of southern Italians during the latter part of the 19th century that brought pizza to America. According to legend, Gennaro Lombardi opened Lombardi's, the first pizzeria in the United States. Signore Lombardi opened his pizzeria in 1905, on Spring Street, in New York's Little Italy. Signore Lombardi trained many of the pizzaiolos who later launched pizzerias of their own throughout New York City and the surrounding areas.

During World War II, many American soldiers stationed in Italy tasted pizza for their first time. Upon arriving home to America, many soldiers promoted "Pizza" as a wonderful and tasty Italian dish. Today pizza has become just as American as baseball and apple pie.

"Pizza" has become part of the international food vocabulary, but it is only recently that both the name and the food itself have become known worldwide. Only 50 years ago, it was principally associated with southern Italy, especially Naples, and there is evidence that even within Italy the word was not widely understood until at least the 17th century. Yet "pizza" has a historical pedigree of over a thousand years. It is first recorded (in yet another version of "the origins of Pizza") in a Latin text from the southern Italian town of Gaeta in 997 AD, which claims that a tenant of certain property is to give the bishop of Gaeta 'duodecim pizze', "twelve pizzas", every Christmas day, and another twelve every Easter Sunday.

Where did the word Pizza Originate?
There has been much debate over the origin of the word itself, but evidence suggests a common origin with the English words "(to) bite" and "(a) bit". English belongs, with German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian to the family of Germanic languages, all of which are descended from a remote common ancestor called 'Proto-Germanic'. "Pizza" is thought to derive from a Langobard word similar in form to the Old High German "bizzo" or "pizzo", a word related to English 'bite' and 'bit'. This word originally meant 'mouthful' (what you obtain by 'biting'). In modern Italian the word has assumed a further life of its own, used metaphorically to denote the circular reel used on movie projectors and also ,by a rather obscure development, a 'boring person', or a 'tedious, long-winded, speech'! Pizza is Italian for 'pie' and may have come from Latin pix 'pitch' or Greek pitta.

Some believe the origin of the word "pizza" itself, in use as early as the 10th century, is attributed to any number of languages, including Medieval Latin in which picea meant "flat-bread," or the Greek placenta, meaning "flat" or "plate." Regardless of its provenance, there is indisputable proof that the citizens of Pompeii enjoyed pizza, for it was found by archaeologists in that city's unearthed ovens.

Some scholars have sensed a connection between "pizza" and "pitta", a type of flat bread widespread in south-eastern Europe. In fact, it is possible that "pitta" reflects a form "petta" or "pitta" encountered in dialects of north-eastern Italy with the same meaning as "pizza", the Gothic equivalent of the Langobard word that gave rise to pizza.

Pizza and Tomatoes The luscious tomato became a basic ingredient in Pizza around the 16th century. The tomato, indigenous to South America, arrived in Italy via trade routes established by the Spaniards in the 16th century. At that time, the plant, a member of the nightshade family, bore fruit that was small and yellow (therefore the name pomodoro, golden apple, or pummarola in Neapolitan dialect), and because of its lineage was initially believed to be poisonous. Eventually, the Neapolitan people seem to be the first to wholeheartedly adapt it, and today the plum tomato is the most identifiable element of their cuisine. In the 1800's, Neapolitan bakers started adding tomatoes to there modest pies as quick dinners for the poor and pizza moved closer to the "Pizza" we know today. Pizza is Naples' signature dish, folded into quarters a libretto and eaten like a sandwich at noon or more decorously with a knife and fork at fine restaurants.

Before the tomato's introduction, Neapolitan pizzas were called cecinielle, after the tiny white fish that adorned them. This early rendition was seasoned with herbs, grated cheese and olive oil, and often eaten in the morning. Vendors sold them on street corners from tall copper containers known as stufe, which they balanced on their heads. After enlisting the tomato, this portable workingman's snack became "pizza marinara," so named for the fishermen who would eat these pies for breakfast. Achieving a revered place in the Italian diet, this particular pie is topped with tomatoes, dried oregano, a few thin slices of fresh garlic and a sprinkling of olive oil.

As mentioned above, the "traditional" pizza known to Americans, pizza Margherita, another classic version, celebrates the colors of the Italian flag. It is topped with ripe tomatoes or sciuè. Sciuè, is tomato sauce cooked in about eight minutes from the pulpy, perfectly sweet and acid-balanced San Marzano tomatoes (grown right outside Naples at the foot of Mount Vesuvius) and spiked with a hint of garlic or a little minced onion - then layered with mozzarella, fresh basil leaves and a splash of extra-virgin olive oil. Prized for its richness, this sublime cheese is made with milk from the water buffalo and is produced in the provinces of Salerno, south of Naples, and Caserta, north of Naples. Ironically, although water buffalo milk is lower in saturated fat than whole cow's milk, bufala contains about 50 percent more protein and twice as much fat (9 percent) as mozzarella made from cow's milk.

Michele Scicolone, co-author of "Pizza, Any Way You Slice It" reports that for Neapolitans, the crust is the most important part: "It should be neither thick nor cracker-thin with a texture that's both crisp and chewy. A good pizza can be folded, like a wallet, without the crust cracking. The outer rim, called the cornicione, should be puffy and speckled with toasty brown spots."

"Pizza is taken so seriously in Naples that the same type of controlling board that regulates wine, the Denominazione di Origine Controllata or DOC, has been established for the dish: the Associazone Vera Pizza Napoletana. The Associazone produced a document called the Progetto di Norma, which defines the rules and regulations that a pizzaiola must follow in order to produce verace pizza napoletana. Every aspect, from the quality and type of raw ingredients to the production method, is covered. The Associazone even maintains the size of a true Neapolitan pizza which cannot exceed 12 inches in diameter. One element that isn't required, however, is that the verace pizza napoletana, or una vera pizza, actually be made in Naples. Therefore, in the United States, Associazone members such as Peppe Miele's Antica Pizzeria pop up in major cities like Los Angeles."

Pizza in Regions of Italy
In Naples, the classic form of pizza has a soft, bread-like crust, scantily dressed with one of two traditional preparations. Outside of Naples, the crust thickens and thins and is topped with ingredients typical of the region." For example, in Piemonte, pies are topped with thin shavings of fresh porcini and velvety fontina valle d'Aosta. Romans like their pizza with a very thin, almost cracker-like crust. In Sicily and many other areas of southern Italy, pizze rustiche, or double-crust pizzas stuffed with vegetables, meat, fish or cheese, are popular. The pizza of Recco, which has put the little town outside of Genoa on the food map, is made with strudel-like dough.

Once familiar with pizza, Americans naturally began adapting it. For example, Pepperoni Pizza is an American invention. Pepperoni in Italy, means peppers, as in peppers. It is not the name of a dried hot sausage. Which is not to say there are not dried hot sausages in Italy, they just don't call them pepperoni. They are occasionally used on pizza in Italy, but by far the two most popular flavors there are the Pizza Margherita and the Marinara.

Pizza in America
Since the 1950s, when the import was still considered an ethnic novelty food, the pizza business has blossomed into an industry that makes up one of the fastest growing segments of the American food industry, with sales expanding 10 to 15 percent each year. According to the National Association of Pizza Operators, the combined annual sales of America's 61,000 pizzerias reaches $32 billion, with nearly the same amount sold in the rest of the world.

Almost all Americans can relate to the mouth-watering experience of biting into a crusty, piping-hot pizza, dripping with melted mozzarella, juicy tomato sauce, and a splash of olive oil. Many Americans now prefer to add additional ingredients ranging from goat cheese to green peppers or whatever fresh vegetable or spice is available in your region of the country.