"Neapolitan pizza has a legal designation specifying the tomato variety, the mozzarella type, the oven temperature and the baking time. The law exists because the difference matters."
About Neapolitan Pizza Margherita
The original and still the greatest — a disk of 00-flour dough fermented for 24 hours, hand-stretched to a disc with a thick, air-filled cornicione crust, topped with San Marzano DOP tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella di Campania DOP and fresh basil, then baked for 60 seconds at 485°C in a wood-fired dome oven; the Margherita was created for Queen Margherita in 1889; the TSG certification protects the method in law.
Neapolitan pizza has its own legal designation: Specialità Tradizionale Garantita (TSG), which mandates the flour type, the fermentation time (minimum 8 hours), the tomato variety (San Marzano DOP), the mozzarella (fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella di Campania DOP) and the oven temperature (485°C minimum). This is not tradition — it is law.
The cornicione (the raised border) of a correctly made Neapolitan pizza is blistered and charred in places, puffed with air pockets from the fermentation, slightly chewy and distinctly sour. It is not a handle — it is the most technically interesting part of the pizza.
What to Expect
At a Neapolitan pizzeria the pizza arrives in under 90 seconds from the oven, the cornicione blistered and slightly charred. The mozzarella is pooled in white islands on the tomato. The centre is soft and slightly wet. You eat it folded in four.
Why Try It
Neapolitan pizza eaten in Naples — specifically at Pizzeria Brandi, Di Matteo or Sorbillo — is substantially different from any version available outside Campania.
Insider Tips
Di Matteo on Via dei Tribunali and Pizzeria Brandi in Chiaia are two essential Naples addresses.
The pizza arrives very hot and slightly soft in the centre. Let it rest 90 seconds before eating.
Order only Margherita or Marinara at a Neapolitan pizzeria. Elaborate topping combinations are not Neapolitan.
