The origins of Italian pizza

Pizza is a baked pie of Italian origin consisting of a shallow bread-like crust covered with seasoned tomato sauce, cheese and often other toppings such as sausage or olive.
The word "pizza" is believed to be from an old Italian word meaning " a point", which in turn became the italian word "pizzicare" which means "to pinch" or "pluck".
Pizza could have been invented by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, Romans or anyone who learned the secret of mixing flour with water and heating it on a hot stone.
6th century B.C:
In the Persian Empire it is said that the soldiers of Darius the Great (521-486 B.C) baked a kind of bread flat upon their shields and then covered it with cheese and dates.
3rd century B.C:
Marcus Porcius Cato also known as Cato the Elder, wrote the first history of Rome. He wrote about "flat round of dough dressed with olive oil, herbs and honey baked on stones".
1st century B.C:
In the "Aeneid" written by Virgil he describes the legendary origin of the Roman nation describing cakes or circles of bread.
1st century A.D:
Our knowledge of Roman cookery derives mainly from the excavations at Pompeii and from the great cookery book of Marcus Gavius Apicius called "De Re Coquinaria". This book contains recipes which put a variety of ingredients on a base of bread. The recipe uses some ingredients of the contemporary pizza such as cheese, garlic, pepper and oil.
79 A.D:
Evidence of a flat flour cake that was baked and eaten in that period in Pompeii was found after the eruption of the volcan Vesuvius which totally destroyed Pompeii and Ercolano.
16th century:
During this century after tomatoes were brought back to Europe from the New World ( Perù) people from Naples used to add tomatoes to their yeast dough creating the first simple pizza, as we know it.
17th century:
Pizza achieved great popularity among visitors to Naples.
18th century :
Queen Maria Carolina D'Asburgo Lorena , wife of the king of Naples Ferdinando IV had a special oven in Capodimonte where her chef served pizza to all her guests.
19th century:
Umberto I king of Italy and his wife Queen Margherita di Savoia in naples on holiday tasted 3 kinds of pizza: one with pork fat, and cheese, one with garlic, oil and tomatoes and the third with mozzarella, basil and tomatoes ( the colours of the Italian flag); the Queen liked the latter and the pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito ( the chef) called this pizza Margherita in honour of the Queen.
At the end of the 19th century Pizza migrated to America achieving great success.
20th century:
In the U.S.A. many pizzerias opened in New York and other cities. Pizza is now famous all over the world.


This work has been written by Rosalia, Carmelo and Alessandro.