The margherita pizza is renowned around the world for its simplicity and fresh ingredients – crushed San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, and extra-virgin olive oil atop a thin crust. This classic combination has become the standard by which all other pizzas are measured. But how did this iconic dish come to be? Like many culinary origin stories, the history of pizza margherita is a mix of fact and fiction.
Pizza and the Rise of Naples
To fully understand the origins of pizza margherita, we must first look at the history and socioeconomic conditions of Naples, Italy in the 18th and 19th centuries. Naples was a bustling, overcrowded city filled with working-class poor and known for its sprawling slums. The Neapolitan people needed an inexpensive, quick meal to fuel their long days of manual labor.
Pizza, which had existed in some form since antiquity as flatbread with toppings, emerged as the perfect solution. Neapolitan bakers began selling pizza by the slice at tiny street-side shops and through mobile vendors carrying large boxes on their heads. These early pizzas were simple affairs, topped with ingredients like garlic, lard, salt, and sometimes cheese.
As Naples grew and changed over the 19th century, so too did its signature dish. The official incorporation of Naples into the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 brought a wave of social and economic changes. The unification introduced the Neapolitan people to more modern cooking equipment, like wood-fired ovens, and new, previously scarce ingredients like tomatoes and mozzarella.
With these fresh flavors and technologies, Neapolitan pizza began to take on its now-familiar form. Pizzaiolos (pizza makers) experimented with different topping combinations and started to gain local celebrity status for their creations. According to pizza historian Antonio Mattozzi, there were 54 known pizzerias in Naples by 1807, a number that would swell into the hundreds by the mid-late 1800s. Pizza became a point of pride and a shared cultural touchstone for the Neapolitan people.
The Margherita Myth
The most enduring legend surrounding the invention of the margherita pizza involves a visit by King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy to Naples in 1889. As the story goes, the Queen grew tired of the elaborate French cuisine that was standard fare for the Italian nobility. Seeking out local flavors, the Queen summoned the most famous pizzaiolo in Naples, Raffaele Esposito of the Pizzeria Brandi, and requested he prepare an assortment of pizzas for her.
Esposito is said to have made three pizzas for the Queen, the most notable of which was a patriotic creation topped with red tomatoes, white mozzarella, and green basil, representing the colors of the Italian flag. The Queen declared this pizza to be her favorite, and Esposito named it in her honor.
It‘s a charming anecdote, but most historians today consider it more fiction than fact. While the 1889 royal visit did indeed occur, there is no reliable evidence to suggest that Queen Margherita ever sampled pizza, let alone had one invented in her honor. The oft-repeated story of Esposito receiving a thank-you note from the Queen for his pizza margherita has also been largely discredited as a savvy marketing ploy.
Early Accounts of the Margherita Pizza
So if the Queen Margherita tale is more legend than history, what are the true origins of the margherita pizza? The first documented reference to a pizza topped with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil actually predates the royal visit by over two decades. In 1866, Francesco De Bourcard published a book on the customs and traditions of Naples, in which he described the "pizza alla mozzarella" as a common fixture of the Neapolitan diet:
"The most popular pizza, besides the marinara, is the one covered with small slices of mozzarella, laid with a pinwheel pattern, over the tomato sauce. In the middle of each slice of mozzarella, is placed a leaf of basil. This pizza is called ‘mozzarella‘ and when it comes out from the oven it is greasy, since the mozzarella melts."
Another early mention of the margherita pizza comes from the Italian journalist and gastronome Ippolito Cavalcanti in his 1839 treatise on Neapolitan cuisine, "Cucina teorico-pratica". Cavalcanti‘s recipe for "pizza con basilico e formaggio" (pizza with basil and cheese) calls for a topping of sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, basil leaves, and grated Parmesan cheese.
These historical accounts suggest that the margherita pizza, or at least its essential tomato-mozzarella-basil topping, was already well-established in Naples by the time of the purported royal "invention" in 1889. In all likelihood, the margherita was not created from scratch for the Queen, but was simply a rebranding of a pre-existing pizza combination that had been enjoyed in Naples for generations.
What‘s in a Name?
So if the Queen Margherita story is more myth than fact, where did the name "margherita" actually come from? There are a few theories:
- Esposito, or another cunning pizzaiolo, renamed an existing pizza the "margherita" after the Queen‘s visit to capitalize on her popularity and drum up business.
- In Italian, "margherita" is the word for daisy. Some argue that the arrangement of mozzarella slices and basil leaves on a margherita pizza resembles the petals and center of a daisy flower.
- "Margherita" may have been a generic name for the mozzarella-tomato-basil flavor combination, much like "margherita" can refer to a classic tequila cocktail or a tomato and mozzarella salad.
Whatever the true origins of the name, by the turn of the 20th century "pizza margherita" had become the commonly accepted term for the tomato-mozzarella-basil pizza in Naples and beyond.
The Global Spread of Pizza Margherita
As Neapolitan immigrants streamed into the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they brought their cherished pizza margherita with them. These new Italian-Americans settled mainly in cities along the East Coast, like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, and quickly set up pizzerias to feed their growing communities.
Gennaro Lombardi opened the first licensed American pizzeria in New York City‘s Little Italy neighborhood in 1905. Lombardi‘s, still in operation today, set the standard for New York-style pizza and helped launch a culinary revolution. By the 1930s, Italian immigrants had established pizzerias in nearly every major Northeastern and Midwestern city, from Frank Pepe‘s in New Haven to Pizzeria Uno in Chicago.
After World War II, American soldiers returning from Italy brought with them a taste for Italian cuisine, and pizza in particular. The post-war economic boom and suburban expansion of the 1950s and 60s saw pizza transform from an ethnic curiosity to a bona fide American staple. Franchises like Pizza Hut and Little Caesars made pizza delivery ubiquitous, while innovations like frozen pizza brought it into home kitchens across the country.
But as pizza assimilated into mainstream American culture, it also evolved and diverged from its Neapolitan roots. New York-style pizza, known for its wide, foldable slices, became the dominant archetype. Regional variants emerged, like the deep-dish pies of Chicago, the square-cut "party pizza" of the Midwest, and eventually the gourmet toppings of California.
The Neapolitan Pizza Renaissance
In the 1980s, as American-style pizza continued to grow and change, some pizzaiolos began to push back against what they saw as the bastardization of their ancestral food. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN), or the True Neapolitan Pizza Association, was founded in Naples in 1984 with the mission of upholding the traditional art of Neapolitan pizza-making.
The AVPN sets strict criteria for what can be considered an authentic pizza napoletana. According to their standards, a true Neapolitan pizza must be made with 00 flour, hand-kneaded and rolled dough, raw San Marzano tomatoes, all-natural fior di latte or bufala mozzarella, basil, and extra-virgin olive oil. The pizza must be baked for 60-90 seconds in a 905°F (485°C) wood-fired oven. Most importantly, it must have a soft, elastic texture, with a puffy "cornicione" crust and a moist, soupy center.
Today, the AVPN has certified over 850 pizzerias worldwide as makers of true pizza napoletana. The association also holds an annual pizza margherita competition in Naples, where pizzaiolos from around the globe compete for the title of World‘s Best Pizza Margherita.
In 2017, the artisanal tradition of Neapolitan "pizzaiuolo" was even granted protected status by UNESCO, the United Nations‘ cultural heritage organization. According to UNESCO, the designation "celebrates the art of ‘pizzaiuolo‘, which has been handed down for generations in Naples, the city that claims its origins."
The Numbers Behind the World‘s Favorite Pizza
The global love affair with pizza margherita and its Neapolitan cousin, the marinara, is reflected in some staggering statistics:
- According to Technomic‘s 2018 Pizza Consumer Trend Report, 43% of Americans eat pizza at least once a week. Margherita is consistently one of the most popular topping combinations, second only to plain cheese.
- A 2019 study by the National Restaurant Association found that pizza is the food most craved by Americans, with 15% of respondents naming it as their top choice.
- The global pizza market was valued at $144.68 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $233.26 billion by 2028, according to Grand View Research.
- Data from Slice, an online pizza ordering platform, shows that over 3 billion pizzas are sold each year in the United States alone, with annual sales exceeding $38 billion.
- The AVPN estimates that there are over 2 million pizzerias worldwide, with a new one opening somewhere in the world every 17 hours.
- In Naples, the birthplace of the margherita, there are over 800 pizzerias for a city of around 1 million people – that‘s one pizzeria for every 1,250 residents.
A Slice of History
While the legend of Queen Margherita and Raffaele Esposito may not be historically accurate, it speaks to the great pride and passion that Neapolitans have for their most famous culinary creation. By attaching the name of Italy‘s Queen to the humble pizza of paupers and peasants, the dish became a powerful symbol of national unity and pride.
The global popularization of pizza margherita in the 20th century paved the way for the dizzying diversity of toppings and regional variants we know today. Yet for pizza purists and traditionalists, the classic combination of San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella fior di latte, and fresh basil remains the gold standard – a reminder of the dish‘s origins in the narrow alleys and bustling streets of Naples.
Whether served in its birthplace at a tiny pizzeria counter or delivered in a cardboard box halfway across the world, pizza margherita endures as the people‘s food, an accessible slice of Neapolitan history. Its deceptive simplicity and exacting technique represent the essence of the pizzaiolo‘s art, unchanged over generations. More than just a beloved food, pizza margherita is a cultural touchstone, an edible monument to the city and people who created it.
