Pizza is the most loved and favorite food in the world. It’s the same in Italy. Anyone who would like to have dinner with pizza: alone, in company, with the family… Every occasion is good to eat it. During the quarantine due to Covid-19, many have tried to find the right recipe for preparing pizza at home. Many others, however, had already attended in one of our pizza classes in Rome or Naples and already knew all the necessary steps.

Pizza: what’s the favorite for the Italians?

The procedure for making a good pizza is simple, after all, but what really matters is the genuineness of the ingredients. The same goes for the combinations. There are various types of pizza in Italy. It starts from the classic, traditional and evergreen Margherita, with a unique and unmistakable flavor, up to the not very popular Hawaiian. But what are the favorite pizzas for the Italians?

Starting from observing the orders for take-away pizza and some surveys, here are the top 9 of the most favorite and appreciated pizzas by Italians:

1. margherita, simple with fiordilatte or buffalo mozzarella;
2. margherita with ham and mushrooms;
3. the capricciosa, for those who love complex tastes;
4. pizza with artichokes: vegetable more than loved in Italy, chosen in all its versions;
5. diavola, that is pizza with spicy salami: it would be the so-called pepperoni pizza (the most ordered in the United States);
6. margherita with tuna: the sea and the mountains are mixed;
7. white pizza without tomato: for those who want to keep it light;
8. special pizzas with local products and high-sounding names such as La bella Campagnola or The thousand emotions;
9. gluten-free pizzas, a growing demand throughout Italy: we too have a class in Naples to learn how to make it.

Pizza: what’s the difference between North and South?

As with anything in Italy, the tastes of the pizzas are different between North and South. Clearly it is very much conditioned by the products of the territory. Therefore a pizza with buffalo mozzarella is more in demand in the South, rather than in the North where a pizza with gorgonzola (blue cheese) is more popular.

The top 3 of the most ordered pizzas in Northern Italy is:

1. Ham and mushrooms, on a par with the margherita;
2. Gorgonzola and salami;
3. Capricciosa.

The top 3 of the most ordered pizzas in Southern Italy is:

1. Bufalina, the margherita with buffalo mozzarella;
2. Marinara pizza (tomato and oregano);
3. Tuna and onion pizza.

Pizza: from tradition to variation

In any case, the margherita remains the queen of pizzas: the most traditional and most appreciated all over the world. There are now many chefs and pizza makers (pizzaioli) who have made changes to the original, and inventiveness and creativity must be rewarded. To make a gourmet pizza, however, you always need tasty, authentic and special ingredients. Always considering the seasonality of some pizzas, really tasty pizzas have been invented. One of the most famous of the latter is the white pizza with mozzarella, mortadella and chopped pistachios, for the sweet tooth; the most dietetic and preferred by women is the white pizza with bresaola, rocket and parmesan. Stuffed pizzas are also among the most requested, in the typical version of the calzone but also with the filling in the crust.

And many and many others… because pizza is always good, at any time and for every mood.

And you? What’s your favorite pizza?