Pizza in Florence

The interesting part about pizza in Italy is that it differs depending on where you are. Pizza in Naples is veryyyy different than pizza in Rome or Milan. All are great though, so here’s a quick rundown of the most popular styles of classic Italian pizza that you’ll find in Italy:

Pizza Napoletana: Arguably the style of pizza most people would consider the “true” Italian pizza, Napoletana pizza has a fluffy outer crust with a paper- thin middle.

Pizza All’Italiana: Similar to Pizza Napoletana, Pizza All’Italiana has a fluffy outer crust with a still thin, but slightly thicker, center than Pizza Napoletana.

Pizza al Taglio: A Roman street-food pizza, “Pizza al Taglio”, or “By the cut”, are huge rectangular sheet pans of pizza in a glass display case where you get to choose the size of the piece that you want and then pay for it by weight. They’re typically a thicker crust and crunchy.

Pizza Romana: Another type of classic Roman pizza, the crust and center of Pizza Romana are both rolled very thin, producing a very crunchy and crispy overall pizza.

Now that that’s covered, let’s get a few basic but important lessons down about pizza in Italy specifically.

First things first, Pizza isn’t put in the center of a table and shared amongst a group of people in Italy. In Italy, EVERY pizza is a personal pizza. I know, sounds like a pure dream, right?

Secondly, pizza in Italy very rarely comes pre-cut. You are given a fork and a knife and you cut the pizza yourself. You CAN ask to have the pizza pre-cut though, which is commonly done for children.

No, it’s not weird to eat your pizza with a fork and knife. In my experience, Italians don’t really care whether you eat it with your hands or with silverware – as long as you’re getting the pizza into your mouth, that’s all that matters 😉

Third, Italians typically drink beer with their pizza. Drinking anything else is just kinda seen as... weird. This is because back in the 1950s, Pizzerias at the time were not allowed to sell alcoholic drinks over 8% ABV (alcohol by volume). So, to adapt to this law they sold beer, which was cheap and easy, and the tradition has stuck around every since! Of course you can drink whatever you want, but just be prepared for some possibly confused faces.

And on a final note, since this is the biggest mistake I see tourists making - “Pepperoni Pizza” doesn’t exist. “Peperoni” means “peppers” in Italian, so if you ask for a “Pepperoni Pizza” in Italy, you will get a pizza with peppers on it. If you’re looking to get a pizza with round slices of meat on it, look for a “Diavola” pizza, or better yet, simply look for “Salame” listed as one of the toppings.