The pizza as we know it today is indisputably one of the great passions of Italians.
It was born in the late 800 in southern Italy and it has become in a few decades one of the greatest Italian culinary achievements in the world.
Since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans there was a similar product: by simply mixing flour, water and salt, they obtained a flatbread which was then baked and topped with garlic and lard.
Over time, this basic preparation was enriched by adding cheese (usually spicy Provolone or Caciocavallo cheese) and it was called the "Mastunicola", or fish, also known as the "Cicinielli".
However, it's only with the tomato diffusion, towards the end of the 16th century, that the pizza assumes the actual features: it was in Naples that a flattened bread was given the name "pizza", a dialectical corruption of the word "pitta".

The Neapolitan pizza-chef Raffaele Esposito became famous in the late 1800s for the creation of a variant of the classic focaccia topped with lard, cheese and basil.
On the occasion of the visit to Naples of King Umberto I and his wife, Queen Margaret, he prepared for them a pizza topped with mozzarella, tomatoes and fresh basil to recall and symbolize the colors of the flag of Italy, that was at that time a nascent country.
It has been called pizza Margherita in honour of the Queen and it's still the most famous and popular pizza in the world.

On February 5th 2010 pizza became a traditional speciality guaranteed by the European Union.