A Neapolitan Wood-fired Margherita Pizza Fit for a Queen: the story of pizza

On National Pizza Day on February 9, pizzerias across the UK will be serving up, as usual, hundreds of gourmet Margherita woodfired pizzas. But how many of them will know the story behind the Margherita pizza’s invention? 

That happened back in June 1889 and all because of the arrival of Queen Margherita of Savoy in the city of Naples.  Margherita became queen of Italy having married her first cousin, Umberto I and was the daughter of Prince Ferdinand of Savoy.  Whilst the marriage was not a happy one, this enlightened woman was a huge asset within the monarchy and tasked with making the newly united Italy’s equally new royal house popular throughout the peninsula.  

As part of this, she made a point of dressing in local costume, embracing local culture wherever she went and, way ahead of her time, ‘ate local’ too.  

Woodfired pizza the Neapolitan way

So, when she arrived in Naples, there was little surprise when she stated that she wanted to sample the local cuisine.  By the late 19th century, pizza was well-established in Naples but little known elsewhere.  The city’s culture and maritime history had really shaped that outcome and been responsible for pizza – cooked in traditional wood ovens, of course – taking hold.

Flatbreads had been established as a culinary tradition in Naples following their arrival from Arabia, where they were round in shape, made very simply with water and flour dough and named ‘pita’.  Tomatoes, on the other hand, came into Naples from South America.  The ancient Neapolitans were, at first, fearful of these strange fruits, believing them to be poisonous.  However, when starving seafarers were desperate for food, they overcame their anxiety and had their wives use them as toppings for their flatbread.  Thus, the ‘Marinara’ pizza was born. 

Mozzarella’s inclusion was thanks to the arrival of buffalo in the Naples area – creatures brought from India by the Normans and thriving in the local area, where they were used as construction and farming workhorses.

The original Margherita wood-fired pizza

It might have been expected that Queen Margherita would have been served up the traditional ‘marinara’, given its roots in the city. Naples, however, went to town, marking the arrival of the queen with something special.

The Royal Palace of Capodimonte commissioned a local chef, named Raffaele Esposito, to give the queen the local cuisine that she craved, but with a twist.  Esposito served up three different wood fired pizzas for her royal majesty but the one that she loved the most was one that celebrated the flag of unified Italy, by representing its green, white and red bands of colour with the use of basil, mozzarella and tomatoes.

As the queen was so delighted by this dish, it was duly named in her honour, becoming the Margherita that has now eclipsed the Marinara as the most famous pizza variety.  Her patronage of the dish enabled the love of pizza to extend beyond the boundaries of Naples and become the worldwide phenomenon that we know today.

The Pizzeria Brandi in Naples, once Esposito’s shop, still has an official letter of recognition from the queen on display.   Some have tried to suggest the legend is not true but whatever the truth may be, the Margherita is served up in commercial wood-fired pizza ovens across the world, on a daily basis.

Added to this, Naples is undoubtedly the spiritual home of pizza, with the ingredients used in the heritage of the dish – San Marzano tomatoes, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil and mozzarella fior di latte – the cornerstones of the patrimony of this dish.

Cooking authentic and ‘real’ Neapolitan pizza

What is also part of the patrimony of the dish, however, is cooking it in the right way, in the right commercial wood-fired oven.  This is an intrinsic part of the rules of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) who protect the cultural entity that is ‘real’ Neapolitan pizza.  

Notably, the AVPN has embraced Valoriani ovens as being true wood-fired ovens that can maintain Neapolitan pizza tradition and ensure that Neapolitan pizza is only ever served in an authentic way, according to its stringent rules.  Only then is it allowed to be called Neapolitan pizza.

Even more incredibly, and testimony to the skills and craftsmanship of Valoriani, an adaptation of the Verace oven became the first gas-fired  commercial pizza oven in the world to be approved by the AVPN for the cooking of authentic and ‘real’ Neapolitan pizza.  This achievement came after years of development and arduous rounds of taste tests, until no tangible difference between the gas-fired pizza and wood-fired pizza could be detected.

If you want to serve authentic and gloriously cooked Margheritas or Neapolitan pizza, you too should look nowhere else than within the Valoriani range for your commercial wood-fired or gas-fired oven.  Call Orchard Ovens today on 07743 847647, to get the process underway.

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Editors notes

Orchard Ovens is the domestic and commercial pizza oven supplier in the UK of Valoriani, based in Reggello, Tuscany - the manufacturer of Italy's hugely respected Valoriani pizza ovens, known as the Maserati of pizza ovens and the kings of clay. These ovens are made from superb refractory clay - cotto clay - found in the family's quarry and unique, thanks to having just the right alumina. This allows Valoriani ovens to heat up quickly and retain heat superbly, bring huge advantages to homeowners, as well as restaurant owners, hotels, pubs, mobile caterers, pizzerias, takeaways and more.

Orchard Ovens supplies some of Britain's best-known restaurants and chefs, whilst it is also a specialist creator of outdoor kitchens and wood-fired oven builds for the rich and famous, as well as everyday homeowners wishing to add value to their home and enjoy an outdoor lifestyle to the full.