Neapolitan fried pizza: history and tradition of a Neapolitan recipe

In Naples, pizza is a must, so much so that you can be found it in all its possible variations and interpretations and so much so that it has become a UNESCO heritage in 2017. Pizza is an expression of Neapolitanism to the nth degree so much so as to reflect even precise historical moments. This is the case of one of the most famous variations of the Neapolitan pizza, that is, fried pizza.

The fried pizza is an expression of Neapolitanism, it was born as a response of the Neapolitan people after the war. Indeed, in the first post-war period eating pizza had become almost a luxury both because of the ingredients and because many of the ovens had been torn down during the bombings of the Second World War. It was in this climate that the art of Neapolitan arranging created one of his masterpieces.

Fried pizza 'born' from the same dough as pizza, but instead of being cooked in wood, it is soaked in the red-hot oil that swells it, also giving the illusion of a more abundant lunch. Prepared also in the alleys and in private homes, the fried pizza is also remembered by the famous film by Vittorio De Sica, The Gold of Naples, where Sophia Loren, plays the role of a wife of a pizza maker who is selling a fried pizza after the war in Naples.

The first ingredients of the Neapolitan fried pizza were never fixed, as they tried to fill the dough with what was in the house at that time, but one of the most famous filling ingredients, which has now become a main ingredient, is ricotta. The fried pizza in its natural form presents, in addition to the golding of the fried dough, a filling of a kind of cheese as ricotta and provola, which is often accompanied by different types of salami. You can eat it on the street or at the table, half-moon (battilocchio in Naples) or overflowing from the plate, stuffed with salt but also sweet, you must trying the fried pizza in every variation.

Expression and exaltation of Naples, fried pizza is one of the things you can't do without if you come to Naples. You can find it in every alley of the city, but if you want to know the queen of Neapolitan fried pizza, you have to go to the Rione Sanità, the historic district of Totò and the Spagnuolo palace, where you'll find Isabella De Cham, Neapolitan doc pizza worker, who with a brigade all-female reigns undisputed in the field of fried pizza. Among light doughs, golden and fried and filled with more traditional recipes but also with much experimentation deriving from long-lived Neapolitan cuisine, it will give you flavors that you will hardly find elsewhere.

Run to Naples and try the fried pizza!