My Much Anticipated, Long Awaited Dissertation On The Italian Pizza

While in Perugia, which is in Umbria, I wrote about the real life Italian pizza. Now, truth is, there is quite a variation in pizza recipes just inside Italy. Naples claims to have invented the pizza and is quite snobbish about it. My wife's tutor came from that area and only likes Neapolitan or Naples pizza. One of the things those of us from North America are surprised about is how basic the typical Italian pizza is. Many of the people there eat something as simple as tomatoes on a crust. Below I have listed, from a take home menu I got, the most popular pizzas available from a pizzeria in Perugia. The menu items for pizza are:

(1) Mozzarella and tomato; (2) Tomato, mozzarella, porcini mushrooms and sausage; (3) Mozzarella, fungi, sausage and ham; (4) Mozzarella, stracchino (another cheese), tomato and rocket (a green); (5) Mozzarella, potato, sausage and rosemary; (6) Tomato, mozzarella, capers and olives. That is the whole list, except for the world famous Nutella pizza. Nutella is a chocolate sauce.

The photos are below. The first is a small pizza parlor in the town of Todi, pretty typical. Below that is the interior of the same place, prior to cleaning after the lunch trade. Below that is a pizza, pretty much life size. That one is tomato, mushroom, mozzarella and prosciutto (Italian ham from Parma region).